Where Do You Place Rocky Marciano in Your Heavyweight Top 10?

[BigAlexSand]

actually tyson is the one with the underrated defense.

tyson had superior skill, power, speed, technique.

he was even tougher. he had a better chin and less prone to cuts than rocky.

what does rocky have over tyson?

heart?

plus rocky will come at tyson too. bad matchup.

Tyson had a better chin? Lol
Please... Tyson is know for becoming frustrated and make mistakes. ... mistakes that put him on his a** and put him in places to get ktfo. .. Rocky would easily have broke Tyson and could end the fight at any moment late in the rounds....

And as a fight fan, use realize heart has alot to do with the fighters career.

Tyson also wouldn't have as much luck with a man just as tall as him with is lateral movements he used against taller opponents.

I'm not saying it would have been an easy fight but if one of of of possibly a few heavyweights could compete with would be rocky. ..

[-Antonio-]

Somewhere in the middle teens.

Like every one else said Marciano's best wins were past their prime fighters. If he fought today he would have been a light heavyweight.

Bowe, Wlad, Vitali, Tyson, Fraizer, Foreman, Liston, Ali, Holyfield, Holmes, Lewis, younger Charles, younger Louis all beat him and those are just the greats. Other heavyweights would have beaten him also.

[LoadedWraps]

Somewhere in the middle teens.

Like every one else said Marciano's best wins were past their prime fighters. If he fought today he would have been a light heavyweight.

Bowe, Wlad, Vitali, Tyson, Fraizer, Foreman, Liston, Ali, Holyfield, Holmes, Lewis, younger Charles, younger Louis all beat him and those are just the greats. Other heavyweights would have beaten him also.

I can't take this post seriously for two reasons.

1. You call Vitali a great.

2. You make it a given Marciano would lose to these fighters. With a realistic weight disparity, sure, but p4p, please.

[Mr.Fantastic]

He beat a faded Joe Louis, Roland La Starza & Joe Walcott twice.

Admittedly Archie Moore and Ezzard Charles were on the downside and former middleweights, but they still fought and performed at heavyweight for a spell.


Thoughts?

If Marciano was black, he'd be top 3 easy with his undefeated record.

[hitman smax]

I think he deserves more credit for beating Louis than he gets, and Louis is my favorite heavyweight. Obviously Louis wasn't prime when he fought him but he was still the favorite to win at the time and Marciano pulled off the upset.

Exactly. For some reason, there are people who simply cannot accept the fact that Marciano beat a then still formidable version of Joe Louis.

In fact, Louis was just slightly over a year removed from being the WORLDS HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION at the time, and he had won 8 consecutive fights heading into his bout with Marciano.

Past his prime? Certainly.

Merely a shell of what he once was? Hell no. The man could still fight.

As for Marciano's place on the All Time List, opinions may vary, but the fact is, Marciano never lost a professional fight, and he fought the best fighters available, which is more than most "great" fighters can boast.

Marciano is arguably the most well conditioned fighter the Heavweight Division has ever seen. He seemed to never tire in the ring, constantly pressuring the opposition, and throwing an exceptionally high volume of punches, and most of the power variety. Also, he got up from some vicious knockdowns with what seemed to be an instantly clear head.

It's also safe to say that Marciano is one of the hardest hitting fighters in any weight division. Even in a friendly light contact sparring session, Muhamad Ali claimed that Marciano's punches were having an effect on him. Perhaps that quote is a good concluding point here:

"Did a computer fight with him (Marciano) when he was an old man just pretending and my arms were so sore just for joking with him." -- Muhammad Ali

[bklynboy]

This is rubbish. Marciano was the better boxer, they had comparable power, and Marciano was very underrated defensively. Marciano would probably stop Tyson in the late rounds after thouroughly outboxing him and frustrating him. It would be a phonebooth fight, a vicious one, but Marciano was one of the greatest to ever step into a ring, to say he only gets past the second round because of his chin is just irresponsible.

I think Marciano is a much better boxer than his haters think but I still think that Tyson would be a bad matchup. I'm talking about the young Tyson who threw a jab; who had movement. I think he takes out Marciano early.

Now, if the fight is in the 8th round and Marciano is ducking under Tyson's hooks and he's starting to land on Tyson ... well then the advantage goes to Marciano big time.

[bklynboy]

Somewhere in the middle teens.

Like every one else said Marciano's best wins were past their prime fighters. If he fought today he would have been a light heavyweight.

Bowe, Wlad, Vitali, Tyson, Fraizer, Foreman, Liston, Ali, Holyfield, Holmes, Lewis, younger Charles, younger Louis all beat him and those are just the greats. Other heavyweights would have beaten him also.

Marciano could not make 175. He was in good shape at 200lbs and would work off the weight in the last few weeks of training.

Too many of today's heavyweights should loose a lot of weight.

[┌∩┐(◕_◕)┌∩┐]

he would murdha mike tython

[BigAlexSand]

Somewhere in the middle teens.

Like every one else said Marciano's best wins were past their prime fighters. If he fought today he would have been a light heavyweight.

Bowe, Wlad, Vitali, Tyson, Fraizer, Foreman, Liston, Ali, Holyfield, Holmes, Lewis, younger Charles, younger Louis all beat him and those are just the greats. Other heavyweights would have beaten him also.

Bowl would be KO'd... Tyson KO'ED mid to late, Frazier KO'D early if he couldn't handle the power and late KO if he could but saved from death, Liston KO'ED, Holmes up right style perfect for Marciano to end it late.... the Klitchkos are huge and can't think of a huge heavyweight he fought so unsure. Ali and Marciano would have been a fight of a lifetime, obviously. A younger Louis would have put up a much better fight and could have gone either way. Dempsey and Marciano would be a fight to the death. ..

The only individuals who do not put Marciano in top 10 are ignorant young fans or just in a simple term "Bias" or just "racist" against the only undefeated heavyweight!!!

[MisterHardtop]

Nobody has these written down lists so they take a minute to think about it and then give you an answer. It's not like they carefully compared all the best heavyweights of the last 100 plus years with each other. I know I have never made these kinds of lists. I think he was probably one of the 15 best heavyweights of all time. I would also rate him the best light heavyweight of all time even though he never fought at that weight. Rocky often weighed in at 180 to 185 pounds in street clothes after a hearty breakfast. He could have weighed in striped down on an empty stomach and easily made 175.

Great response, personally, after spending decades in the sport I'd have Marciano somewhere between 10-15.

Many complain that he faced far too many opponents who were past their sale by date, which is true but he could only fight the best guys on offer and that's who they were. He found himself sandwiched between the generations of Louis and Ali. Patterson and Liston often get lost amongst the crowd when discussing top heavyweights of the time, even though most of these men fought within a decade of each other.

Where ever you want to rank him, Rocky was amongst the best ever.