I have a rocky marciano question?

Question

I am arguing with a friend of mine who keeps on saying that marciano was not that great because he never faced any major competition, i want to prove him wrong......my question is, which great PRIME fighter did rocky marciano face in his remarkable career?

Answer 1

marciano was a tough fighter who was stuck fighting old men during his yrs as heavyweight champion the youngest of the bunch he fought was a rematch will rolan lastraza which he kod in the 8th he was dropped by an old by hard hitting joe walcott and was dropped by archie moore though i think marciano was tough i think if he stuck around sonny liston would of beat him by ko

Answer 2

Tell your buddy to look up Jersey Joe Walcott . Nuff said . Get a new friend , one who knows something about the sweet science !!!

Answer 3

Walcott

Moore

Charles

LaStarza

Answer 4

Essentially, both of you are right.

Marciano was a victim of timing.  By the time he became champ, the heavyweight division was pretty thin in historically relevant opposition.  All the big name guys were beyond their primes and some gave him a real fight.

Although the division was thin, he DID fight all comers and in this regard he was a true champ.  For some real perspective, think of it this way:

We have had lulls in competition in the HW division since then, but have not had an undefeated HW champ.

That in itself is remarkable.  Rocky might not have been the best, but he certainly set a standard that will likely not be matched.

Call your argument a tie and move on.

Answer 5

Jersey Joe was old but it when he fought marciano it was a point where jersey joe was fighting the best he ever did. Archie Moore was just about in his prime, and ezzard charles was still good when he fought him.

In my opinion the thing that makes marciano great wasnt the competition he faced because he fought in a weak era but his sheer power and punch placement. He is th best heavyweight in my opinion because he was undefeated and he won 43 of his wins by ko having the highest ko percentage of all time. And i dont care what anyone says but even though joe louis was old when he fought marciano it takes more than a bum took knock one of the greatest fighters of all time through the ropes.

Answer 6

to the guy talking about marciano knocking ali down in a sparring session some months before marcianos death i think it was during that stupid computer fight session that was freddie perchecko i think thats how you say his name who claims that marciano knocked ali down with a body shot i am a rocky fan so id like to believe percheckos claim that marciano knocked ali down but i dought it perchecko tells storys alot when they did those sparring session it is said ali disrespected marciano and jabbed his toupee off his head and thats what fired marciano off ali claimed yrs after that happened that fight promoters were saying this to try to get marciano out of retirement marciano wouldnt because he was way too old to fight ali in reality ali who generally hated white fighters at the time took a liking to marciano almost right away marciano and ali got to no eachother well during these sessions and both marciano and ali built a friendship so much that when marciano died ali was shocked and upset about the former champions passing  these sparring session were light boxing sessions meaning light bodyshots with trick phtography head shots  so this report is probably false

Answer 7

sadly my friend marciano did not face the greatest competition, but it wasnt rocky's fault, the 50's were the weakest time for the heavyweight division (even worse than today's heavyweights), he fought 37-0 roland lastarza, but that was a questionable decision which many thought should have gone to lastarza, and by the time rocky fought him again and kayoed him, he had already fought 56 fights

Answer 8

joe lewis, jersey joe walcott, archi moore, ezzard charles

Answer 9

Unfortunately Marciano did not have the best opposition in his time however i give him credit, he faced everybody that challenged him and never backed from a fight he fought the best available competetion and still managed to remain undefeated, not only did he beat his opposition, he knocked them out cold for the most part and for a long time he was considered the greatest boxer ever, even Ali had a lot of respect for Rocky Marciano, and even though there are some people who over estimate his power, i will be the first to say that in his time period he was truly the greatest fighter around and on a good day he could give anybody serious trouble in the ring.

p.s

Jo S the Marciano vs Ali fight was simulated it was not real they filmed it together over a period of several days with different outcomes and they chose the one were marciano won, please do not display your boxing ignorance on this forum.

Answer 10

Jersey Joe Walcott was 38 at the time, BUT he had won the heavyweight championship the year before and he was making the second defense of the title when he first fought Rocky.  He was also giving Rocky a boxing lesson for the majority of their fight until Marciano caught him with his "Suzy Q" in the 13th round.  He deserves credit for beating Walcott that night because even if Jersey Joe was past his prime, he sure as h**l didn't look like he was that night.

Roland Lastarza was 26 and Marciano was 30 when they fought their rematch, and they were both near the end of their careers.  The first time they fought, Rocky won a split decision that some felt should have gone Lastarza's way, but in the rematch he knocked him out in the 11th round.  The "past his prime" excuse does not hold water here even if you don't consider Lastarza to be a "great" fighter.

He deserves credit for beating Ezzard Charles twice in back to back fights even if Charles was past his prime.  Charles gave him two tough fights and gave Marciano an extremely bad cut on his nose in their rematch and Rocky was on the verge of being stopped, but he rose to the occasion like a true champ and stopped Charles in the next round.

Archie Moore was 39, BUT after getting stopped by Marciano, he went on to become light heavyweight world champion and if there is anyone that had an "extended" prime it was Archie Moore.  And yes, Moore was a light heavyweight champ, and Marciano was a heavyweight, but if you look at some of Moore's fights in between his title defenses, you'll see that he actually fought at weights higher than Marciano did throughout his career.  Rocky was not a big heavyweight himself and he deserves credit for beating Moore because Archie was a great fighter that could have given problems to anybody.

Rocky Marciano was a great fighter, and the only one to retire as undefeated and undisputed champion with no losses or draws on his record.  He is one of the most devestating right-hand punchers in history and if he connected right, he could have knocked out virtually anyone on their best day. He was the best heavyweight in the world for 3 years and he may not be the best of all time, but I have no problem saying that he is ONE OF the best heavyweights of all time.