Marciano 49-0 vs. Mayweather 49-0.

[Elroy The Great]

The greatest fighters are the old timers, like Jack Johnson, who fought over 700 rounds in his career. And Joe Lewis who fought every month and sometimes twice a month for many years.

PTI ......

look at HOW they fought back then
then look at WHO they fought

for every quality guy, there were 1000s of no hopers fighting every week to pay off their bar tab.

[DreamFighter]

when you have a line up as easy as rockys was,.......im surprised he retired so young after only 7 defenses.

still its 7, with zero avoidance, undisputed and he wasnt young at all.

[Elroy The Great]

still its 7, with zero avoidance, undisputed and he wasnt young at all.

there was no one to avoid. tex cobb would have went at least 43-0 with rockys line up.

[DreamFighter]

there was no one to avoid. Tex cobb would have went at least 43-0 with rockys line up.

really believe that?

[Elroy The Great]

really believe that?

hell yes and in that comments entirety.

[DreamFighter]

hell yes and in that comments entirety.

k good to know

[Elroy The Great]

k good to know

i hope that post you quoted wasnt ambiguous....

[The Old LefHook]

One could possibly provide serious analysis regarding exactly how spent Louis, Charles and Walcott were when they met up with Marciano five times. Who would they, at that point in their respective careers, have beaten and not have beaten?

Surprisingly, Walcott and Charles from their first fights with Rock would do quite well among historical heavies up to and including their own era, I believe. Louis of course was more shot than either, in my opinion, and probably could not have beaten a prime Fitzsimmons at that point. Would Galento have beaten the Louis who lost to Marciano?

Walcott and Charles were awful tough when they faced Rocky, and they would still beat most historical heavyweight champions. Marciano, then, had ought to beat most historical heavyweight champions as well, at the minimum.

Measured by his best opponents instead of his average ones, Marciano's resume was not as weak as typical slanderers invariably make it out to be.

[billeau2]

Not necessarily true.

All fighters are differently regardless of style or defensive ability.

Someone like Manuel Ortiz for example who was an aggressive brawler who took a lot of punishment had a long prosperous title reign and career whereas Wilfred Benitez one of the best defensive fighters of all time was shot to **** before he even hit age 30.

Floyd was well passed his best days by the time he was heading toward his mid 30's

There are even, usually good explanations for these different rates of return a fighter gets on his equipment. I would rather be a brawler who trains hard and does not party too much between fights, much less during fights. Benitez was one of the worse offenders, probably along with Camacho. My two East Harlem hommies lol!

IN the Spanish Harlem that held sway when these two were plying their trade, every corner had a "social club" which was a place where the Puerto Rican men drank into the evening...When, and only when the bars were not open, and the bars in New York City opened at 430 in the morning so the porters could catch a shot, or three, and closed for half an hour from 4am until that 430 time... and lets not even talk about the coke making the rounds! It was everywhere, with bands playing every night on Broadway...

I heard that not only didn't Benitez train for Leonard...He Was literally out the night before Salsa dancing! and drinking and snorting...Camacho did much the same, it was just the way people got down back then. New York always had sense though...they made the bars serve food. So this meant that at least the porters, the other working men could catch breakfast with that "shot or three before work...

In those days everyone smoked camel unfiltered cigarettes, and the boss would call you in and say "Hey Joe, whats wrong wit ju? I don't smell no alcohol on your breath, is everything alright? I got some blow on the bathroom sink if you hurry in...don't let me catch you sober again or I will write you up!"

[The Old LefHook]

Wilfredo snorted a lot of lefhooks from Hearns. But unlike most, he found Duran easy to deal with and negate.

* * * * *

One thing which makes Marciano's rise and championship special is that it was tested under fire. It was the real thing. Few fighters could have survived what he did to take down Walcott and Charles. And we saw what Walcott's lefhook did to Charles. It could not do that to Rocky, however, who arose, endured a frightful beating for thirteen rounds with an eagerness bordering joy, before blanking Jersey Joe's world out with a single Susie-Q. Now that is legitimacy.