Marciano was overrated and not an ATG.

[JulioCesaChavez]

I totally disagree. Marciano was great. He wasn't a great boxer like Sugar Ray Robinson, who had boxing down to an art; but Marciano was the best puncher since Jack Dempsey, also one of the greatest. He was dubbed the Brockton Blockbuster for a reason. When he hit you, you knew you were hit. He was smaller than average for a heavyweight, but the power in his fists made him big. No one tops him in that respect, not even Dempsey. Ali, Liston, none of those who followed him could equal him. Ali was not the "greatest" except when it came to his mouth; he was simply a lot of hot air. Many others were superior to Ali, who won his fights with his mouth whereas Marciano won his by fighting, not ranting and raving his opponent to death as Ali did. You can put down Marciano all you want, but he was among the greatest. I watched some of his fights live and there was no match for him. Since Marciano, boxing has become mediocre and boring.

What on earth have you been smoking?

[logan58]

We don't have to hope. We accomplish what we hope. We've had Sullivan, Corbett, Dempsey, Jeffries, to name a few, and Marciano. Who's better? The sport now is filled with mediocrity.

marciano is jus another great white hope...blacks & ricans rule the sport! mexicans coming 3rd.

[logan58]

Apparently nothing you've been using..

What on earth have you been smoking?

[1SILVA]

Marciano

Marciano was a great fighter. He defeated Charles and Walcott twice and would have knocked out Patterson if they had fought. Liston was yet a contender and no one else in the heavyweight division was a threat. He fought who was available and ducked no one. Marciano deserves his due. He wasn's as good as Ali, Louis and Johnson, but he was great nonethless

[Benny Leonard]

We don't have to hope. We accomplish what we hope. We've had Sullivan, Corbett, Dempsey, Jeffries, to name a few, and Marciano. Who's better? The sport now is filled with mediocrity.

Not sure about Corbett, I'll have to do my research...but Dempsey, Jeffries, and Sullivan avoided Black fighters when they held the title. Dempsey was criticized for it while he was Champ and Jack Johnson called out Jeffries while Jeff was still Champ...but Jeff refused.

Marciano: not his fault but he fought past prime fighters...it's kind of a shame because he becomes overrated with his 49-0 record, but maybe underrated because he wasn't able to prove himself against an elite HW that was over 200 pounds...even though we get some sense based on how he fought his competition.


The Sport isn't filled with mediocrity...well, maybe at HW, except for Vitali.

[Kid McCoy]

Not sure about Corbett, I'll have to do my research...but Dempsey, Jeffries, and Sullivan avoided Black fighters when they held the title. Dempsey was criticized for it while he was Champ and Jack Johnson called out Jeffries while Jeff was still Champ...but Jeff refused.

Corbett should have fought Peter Jackson, who John L. Sullivan avoided for years. They did meet for a 61 round draw before Corbett won the title, but he reneged on his promise to give Jackson a title shot.

Other than Sullivan, all were prepared to fight black fighters before they became champion; Jeffries and Corbett fought Jackson, Dempsey fought John Lester Johnson and employed a lot of black sparring partners.

[Benny Leonard]

Corbett should have fought Peter Jackson, who John L. Sullivan avoided for years. They did meet for a 61 round draw before Corbett won the title, but he reneged on his promise to give Jackson a title shot.

Other than Sullivan, all were prepared to fight black fighters before they became champion; Jeffries and Corbett fought Jackson, Dempsey fought John Lester Johnson and employed a lot of black sparring partners.

Thanks for the info on Corbett.

Sullivan fought black fighters prior to winning the title?

He did avoid them when he held the title...that's a knock on his character and resume.

Same goes for Jeffries. I did hear that he fought Black fighters prior to winning the title and wanted to fight Jack Johnson when he held the title, but caved into the outside pressures to not give a black-man a shot.

Dempsey may be in the same with the rest since he caved as well when he was Champion. Sparring black HWs isn't the same as giving them a shot at your title.

[The Jackal]

Not sure about Corbett, I'll have to do my research...but Dempsey, Jeffries, and Sullivan avoided Black fighters when they held the title. Dempsey was criticized for it while he was Champ and Jack Johnson called out Jeffries while Jeff was still Champ...but Jeff refused.

Marciano: not his fault but he fought past prime fighters...it's kind of a shame because he becomes overrated with his 49-0 record, but maybe underrated because he wasn't able to prove himself against an elite HW that was over 200 pounds...even though we get some sense based on how he fought his competition.


The Sport isn't filled with mediocrity...well, maybe at HW, except for Vitali.

Marciano said he had 3 fights left in him & Floyd Patterson was in contention for the title an Olympic gold medalist may have made it better on his record but ive heard Marciano didn't want to fight Floyd Patterson.
There's also eye brows raise about 1 of his wins

[Benny Leonard]

Marciano said he had 3 fights left in him & Floyd Patterson was in contention for the title an Olympic gold medalist may have made it better on his record but ive heard Marciano didn't want to fight Floyd Patterson.
There's also eye brows raise about 1 of his wins

LaStarza 1 was controversial...was this the fight or another?

True, a Patterson fight would certainly have been better than all of the previous opponents. Floyd was young, fast, powerful, and skilled...but he didn't have a great chin and started out as a middleweight so that could still be held against Marciano. But the attributes Floyd had may have been enough to pull out a victory, which is why the fight didn't happen...maybe.

Now if Liston had come along earlier, that would have been a great test.

I think it was Nino Valdez that some people say Marciano avoided when he was going strong. Once Nino fell off, there was no reason to fight him anymore. Styles make Fights...that was the reason for avoidence I hear. How true, I don't know.

[jcsambo]

Marciano was overrated. If he fought Liston isntead of being a chicken he would have bean beaten to a pulp. He struggled against slow old men like Walcott and a washed up Charles. I reckon most top heavies from each era would have wiped the floor with him. Do u really think he could stand in there with Big Klitchko, Lewis, Holyfied or even Samuel Peter?LOL. Way too easy to hit. He was lucky that Italians loved boxing at the time, it was number one in sports and he had no competition.

Only idiots who have no fight dvd's (i have 1000+ 500vhs) and haven't seen much would rate 'the rock'. The best of his era were old men, and even then he was getting outboxed by the painfully slow Jersey Joe Walcott (equivalent to a journeyman like glen johnson)just by looking at footage one can see he wouldn't stand a chance aginst a Prime Roy Jones, the old Hopkins or even our Clinton Woods! Never mind any genuine heavyweight. He didn't lose coz he didn't fight anybody. Look at all the best, they lost coz they fought the best. He knew he had to retire early or get ko'd by the up and coming fighters! Smart guy but still rubbish.

I've seen every major boxing match that took place in the past 100 years and every Marciano title fight. Walcott was an old slow man and even then he had to hit the man when he was down because he was being outboxed. Marciano is overrated because he was the white hope in a segragated America where they believed they were evolutionarily superior. Marciano never beat anybody decent in their prime and was lucky he was in a dead era. The truth is he was overrated and would lose to many of todays light heavyweights including Calzaghe Hopkins and maybe even Tarver. People who know boxing know he is not a top ten heavyweight. Don't get upset, it is the truth.

LOL some Marciano advocates believe Joe Louis was not totally over the hill when Marciano fought him!!! He was pulled out of retirment and looked more washed up than the shores of Blackpool. Just because Rocky was crap and made a meal out of him and the other old men he fought doesn't mean they were not washed up. Also he did not fight everyone around at his time and retired early to avoid the likes of Sonny liston, Cleveland Williams etc. Even so, it may not be his fault but still exposed his weaknesses. He struggled with Walcott who was average, slow and ever so OLD. It took a dirty shot and there was never to be a rematch in segregated america that needed their hero so bad. He was so easy to hit it was a joke. Completely outboxed for many rouns. Marciano would lose to David Haye in about 2 rounds.

I think he is not even in the top 20 in the heavyweight division of all time. It pisses me off when people think he was in the top 5 or even the best! ROFL. Why does he always pop up on p4p lists? He was absolutely ****!

I agree. I agree. I agree. I agree.