Marciano: Was the 49-0 record bogus?

[bennie]

Larry is one of the greatest heavies of all time but had a sour approach to the sport and often steered what should have been a casual quote down the path of something more sickening. This is just one of too many examples.

bennie, do you have any info on one of the Rock's early victims, Jimmy Weeks? Any biographical info and, in particular, photos would be great. I've read several times over the years that Rocky did box his brother Sonny in at least one amateur exhibition where Sonny used a nom de guerre, but in the pros the only opponent I've ever had my doubts about is Weeks.

Marciano is before my time but I will ask some of the old boys on facebook.

[jameswilson]

I reckon a Prime Holmes would have been a hell of a test for every heavyweight in history.

[Old bones Ian]

From what I can gather Rocky had a handful of amateur fights after his first or second pro fight, he lost at least one of them.
But rumour has it that he got paid $100 for one of those 3 round 'amateur' fights he lost, so strictly speaking that could be called a pro fight.
One thing that's not in doubt is that alot of boxers could of out boxed Rocky over 3 rounds, that's the point of pro boxing see who can do it over a longer distance.

[gp.]

Does it even matter? Even if a couple of Marciano's early fights were 'fakes', does anyone seriously think he would have been likely to fight anyone at that stage of his career that would have beaten him? It's the later fights against bigger names where his unbeaten record would have been tested.

[Rexob]

Love to see him fight nowadays it would be comical him against the big heavy's of today.

[palooka]

I'd settle for seeing how Marciano would cope with the peak Tyson.

[Rexob]

Not very well I don't think, Tyson would give him more than a split nose.

[palooka]

He'd have been the first Italian in space.

[Rexob]

No disrespect to Marciano because he was a tough SOB! but Tyson is levels above and would have split him a new asshole aswell in the process.

[punchoutsb]

Rocky had heart Tyson could never dream to have. He had great power, a better chin, and better conditioning.

I'd take Rocky over Tyson.

[Coco]

Tyson was a small heavy but still way to big for Marciano

[Rexob]

Rocky had heart Tyson could never dream to have. He had great power, a better chin, and better conditioning.

I'd take Rocky over Tyson.

[Sklar]

Marciano is grossly underrated by a lot of people.

[Rexob]

I don't think they do he was unbeaten you can't get better but he's still not as good as a fair few other great heavyweights since then?

[punchoutsb]

Marciano is grossly underrated by a lot of people.

I definitely agree.

[spudder56]

I reckon a Prime Holmes would have been a hell of a test for every heavyweight in history.

Yes a prime Larry Holmes is arguably the best of all time IMO

[Rexob]

I reckon a Prime Holmes would have been a hell of a test for every heavyweight in history.

Yes a prime Larry Holmes is arguably the best of all time IMO

Very arguably.

[Old bones Ian]

Tyson never won a fight he was losing, as time goes by I rate him less in the all time great heavy list

[Rexob]

Tyson never won a fight he was losing, as time goes by I rate him less in the all time great heavy list

Yawn

[banjo]

Tyson never won a fight he was losing, as time goes by I rate him less in the all time great heavy list

I've never rated him that highly myself, half of his opponents in his prime were either old or coked out of their heads, don't get me wrong he was sensational to watch but there's a lot of question marks. A lot of people love to make excuses for Tyson though, it's like the Douglas fight where people were saying he had issues and whatnot well so did Douglas, his mum died and his wife was diagnosed with some serious illness in the weeks prior to the fight but he just got on like a pro and wiped the floor with Mike.

[orbtastic]

There's always been a slight cloud over his record as he turned pro then went back to the ams and lost to Coley Wallace [in some regional Golden Gloves], then went back to the pros.

There is some mention that he fought initially as "Rocky Mack" before using a form of his real name that he became best known as i.e. Marciano over Marchegiano. Some articles seem to gloss over this, some suggest he lost using this name, I think some articles confuse the Wallace loss with him losing as a pro.

Also, he had two decision wins early on, most famously against La Starza and less well known against Ted Lowry who came very close to knocking him out numerous times only to ease off and lose a widely disputed decision with some suggestion he was paid not to win. I think that is generally where the suggestion he isn't unbeaten comes from.

I don't think this is up there with Julio Chavez getting his record subsequently altered and a [DQ] loss changed to a win by his manager, who happened to be part of the local boxing commission at the time.

[Old bones Ian]

Tyson never won a fight he was losing, as time goes by I rate him less in the all time great heavy list

Yawn

Superb retort, I now stand corrected.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Rocky had heart Tyson could never dream to have. He had great power, a better chin, and better conditioning.

I'd take Rocky over Tyson.

Absolutely no chance. Rocky was a slow starter and was slow of hand and foot, he won by a war of attrition. He never faced a puncher like Tyson, - he was fortunate to be around in the post Louis era, when most of the talent around was past their best. Tyson was one of the fastest and most dangerous starters in the history of division, as tough as Maricano was, no way would he have been able to get into his groove against Tyson, he would have been stopped early in the fight.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I reckon a Prime Holmes would have been a hell of a test for every heavyweight in history.

Yes a prime Larry Holmes is arguably the best of all time IMO

I think the same, he has a very strong case.

[Dixonian]

He'd have been the first Italian in space.