At heavyweight Marciano fought and destroyed old men who had no place in the ring. Leon Spinks beat Muhammad Ali. He was KOing people because back in his day the gloves were lighter and harder, offering much less protection. As for fighting at CW he would get outboxed by Evander Holyfield. Joe Walcott outboxed Maricano for 13 rounds. Holyfield was a better boxer than Walcott and by the time CW was around the gloves offered a lot more protection. Also Holyfield has a great chin so Marciano would have problems. Btw I would say Ali is the Fedor of boxing. Destroyed everyone until he was over the hill.
I cant really say that I would put him at GOAT as a heavyweight, short of the lore that surrounds him I couldnt even make him top 20 (there are heavyweights before and after him that would murder him).
But the cruiserweight division is a much more sound argument, Id like to go there.
I just answered a question whether I think David Haye would have beat Rocky Marciano as a cruiser, and honestly Id go either way depending what round it went into. But there have been some PURE ANIMALS that have gone into (or rather THRU) the cruiserweight division.
The obvious answers are Evander Holyfield and David Haye. Holyfield I give Marciano NO CHANCE of beating when he was a cruiser, and thats just flat out fact. But there are other names like JAMES TONEY or ROY JONES JUNIOR that wandered thru the cruiserweights with a vengeance that I cant say Id give Marciano good odds against.
But then there are the not so knowns, Anaclet Wamba, Dwight Qawi, Carl Thompson, and PLEASE lets have this conversation without throwing in most notably, Carlos De Leon. Many could argue that if HOLYFIELD would be considered number one, DE LEON would be a very close number two.
Cruiserweight is way too violent to give to someone who never had to compete it...and Im sorry there are too many borderline gang member like murderers in the cruiserweight for me to "honorarily" give the nod to Marciano.
No, there would have been so many competing as a Cruiserweight and Marciano would be fighting more at his own age, not a 40 year old Archie Moore,37 year old Charles ,38 year old Walcott.
Yes! So what the division didnt exist then. Some argue him the greatest Heavyweight (which I disagree). The mere fact that at his size he could go undefeated and be in the greatest HW conversation says it all.
Possibly... But he isn't the greatest. Your record doesn't make you the greatest. Learn a bit more about the sport watch some of the greats you'll see what made them great ;)
Evander Holyfield is the greatest
I know this division didn't exist back in the day Rocky fought, but if let's say existed and considering the opposition he would have in this division, how many years would the Italian Stallion dominate? 15-20 maybe? I mean the guy never knew defeat and did beat bigger dudes by KO during his whole career in the big boys division. No wonder why some call him the greatest ever. I can definitely relate to these people. A dude who was like 185 and 190 lbs and a little over 5'10 was DESTROYING AND KO outside the ring bigger, heavier and longer dudes like Louis, Charles and Walcott.
He was the Fedor of his time. The definition of the word "overachiever". The jury says that Rocky is the GOAT both Cruiserweight and Heavyweight division............49-0 for a reason after all.
