Why wouldn't Rocky Marciano be considered for the greatest heavyweight champion of all time ?

Answer 1

This generation has NO IDEA of Boxing history from the responses here. This GREAT question sits next to several other sports questions (best baseball player, etc) in the school yards of 20th Century American history.

The "Original Rock" was a protected fighter, as ALL world champions are. However, unlike ALL THE OTHERS, he boxed for the LOVE of the sport. Money was secondary. Even EGO was secondary to this great man. His greatest feat may have been IGNORING the temptation to make a comeback.

He fought ALL COMERS. Every legitimate contender had a shot. Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles, Jersey Joe Walcott, and Archie Moore tried to unseat the Champ. All are among the greatest fighters in 20th Century.

The only reason The Rock wont go down in history as the UNQUESTIONABLE #1 champion of all time is the fact that he only had 6 title defenses.

I believe there is only 1 man who could have beat the Rock, and thats Ali. But even that is a big maybe. I believe Ali would get the decision. But The Rock could have KO'd Ali if he caught him clean.

Ali would be "The Greatest." But The Rock is The Only Undefeated Champion there ever was. And that is a title NO ONE will EVER take from him. He was THE Legend.

In the 20th Century, the four best fighters of all time:

1. Ali.
2. The Rock Rocky Marciano.
3. Joe Louis.
4. Jack Demsey.

Boxing is a sweet science. Its not just a hook, its a science. And the ability of a boxer to MAKE THE PUBLIC SPEAK THEIR NAME YEARS AFTER THEIR CAREERS ended make them LEGENDS.

These 4, in my opinion epitomized HERO, American Kid Style.

Answer 2

Who did he ever fight that was any good, and or in their prime?

Marciano was the best MANAGED fighter of all time. He was 23 when he had his first fight, and 32 when he beat an ancient Archie Moore and retired. I guess that also makes him the smartest fighter of all time; he never engaged in an endless series of comebacks to tarnish an unbeaten streak.

However, that unbeaten streak was made up of bums and sub- par competition. He made only 6 defenses against very old light heavyweights, like the aforementioned Archie Moore, past their prime heavyweights, like Joe Walcott and Ezzard Charles and legendary fighters like Don Cockell and Roland La Starza.

Technically, he was very flatfooted, clumsy and not the speediest of pugilists. He was also very small.
In his time, Marciano was not nearly as revered as he has become with the passage of time. Rather, he was considered a good club fighter who was exciting to watch and who benefited from a weak division.

Give the man his due; he was unbeaten, tenacious and 49 times out of 49 found a way to beat the guy in front of him, but off the top of my head I can think of ten other guys who were greater than he was.

Answer 3

i think most people if asked wouldnt say he was the greatest heavyweight ever, that goes to ali for most, but rocky did beat everyone he fought and thats a great achivement, ok they were not the best crop of heavys but he always found a way to win coming back from knockdowns and terrible cuts. rocky today would only be a cruiserweight so it could really be a p4p debate. for me people who could jab and move, ali, holmes would beat him and even make it look easy, but with modern training , diets etc, together with his punch, heart and chin he would give most a tough tough fight, fightts with holyfield and tyson would be classics, and i see him knocking out lewis. to the guy who says frazier beats rocky and thats a simple fact is crazy, frazier went down a few times and which great heavyweights did frazier beat ??? ali who was 3 years out the ring and it was still very close. rocky had power in both hands frazier was all left hook, rocky had the better chin both had heart frazier was quicker, pretty even fight by no means a FACT

Answer 4

the easy answer? opposition. in life, literature, and in sports, one is only as good as the quality of opposition they overcome. it's the only real common denominator one can go by when comparing fighters of different eras. jack dempsey is more famous for 1 - climbing back in the ring after getting knocked out of it by luis firpo; and 2 - for the long count fight, which he lost! sure, tunney was on the floor for over ten seconds, but he did knock dempsey down shortly thereafter - a fact which many seem to forget. ask any of his fans why he's the greatest and they'll say marcaino was undefeated...so what? who did he beat? sure he was tough, but so were most fighters of that era. sure he had heart, but so did many other fighters of his and other eras. when he fought the brown bomber, louis was old and on his, what, second comeback? no one knows how old walcott and moore were when they fought him and they almost beat him soundly. ezzard charles was probably his toughest opponent, yet, i learned from one of our esteemed participants, on this very site, that charles had something like early-stage multiple sclerosis, or something, when he fought rocky. now check louis: he got knocked out by schmeling and impressively avenged it. he had sheer longevity and one heckuva knockout punch, and, had some classic battles, and, left some very famous ex-champions in his wake. ali, of course, had the best/toughest competition of any heavyweight....and triumphed over them all; fought w/a broken jaw; won the title 3 times; had amazing recuperative fighters, and, even when he wasn't in top shape, gave some great, even legendary, performances. he dominated his era and dominated his opponents with sheer will. so, to answer your question....is there any opponent rocky faced that any other a-list/b-list heavyweight would not have beaten, in their prime, had they fought that opponent at the same point in their career that rocky did? answer that, and you'll know, full well, why rocky was not and can not be considered...."the greatest!"

Answer 5

He never lost a fight - he surely must be considered among the greatest fighters. It's difficult to compare old boxers with new boxers. Rocky vs Tyson in his prime would have been a very entertaining fight.

Answer 6

He could, he did finish his career undefeated. I think he is judged a little less than most of the greats because he never had that stellar opponent to measure him by. Larry Holmes and Lennox Lewis suffer from the same thing.

Answer 7

Because Lennox lewis, Larry holmes, Muhammad Ali, Joe frazier, Mike Tyson, And a prime Joe lewis would all have beaten the " Brockton Blockbuster". To small to slow. Should have fought floyd patterson before he retired.

Answer 8

There are many in the boxing scene who believe most of his fights were fixed (the mob at that time had a lot of power to influence scoring). While that allegation was never proven, we do know that his opponents were nowhere near top ten. Also back in those days, Whites were discouraged to face African American opponents so it's difficult to say you're the greatest when you haven't face some of the best in the game.

Answer 9

Right on Brad Morris 5 Right On

Answer 10

He may considered one of the best and had knocked out Joe Louis (not in his prime) and Jersey Joe Walcott, two very good boxers. He had about 49 wins and most which came by way of knockout. Who's to judge who is the best of all times. He died of a plane crash after defending his title 6 times.