BoxRec

Depends who you ask. He's overrated by many who put too much stock in the "0" and have him in the discussion as the best ever but he's underrated by those who say things like "he couldn't beat modern guys". There's fighters with worse names and wins on their resumes that get rated higher.

He's a great fighter and a top 10 (arguably top 5) heavyweight and surely a top 100 fighter ever. That's pretty darn good if you ask me.

Marciano's rising record is full of B and C level opponents, which is normal. Every boxer is going to top through journeymen. And Marciano's accomplishments on top level were high. He defeated Charles, who was a one of the best p4p boxers ever. Walcott was good despite his age, he was a rear kind of fighters, who emerged late. Moore was also still more, than just credible, he was coming of an excellent win streak and had very good wins afterwards. Marciano is a legit top 10 HW in the all time rankings.

Anyone that knows the sport agrees that Louis was one of the best in history.

Hopefully in 50 years people will be looking beyond the numbers. I think casual fans used to be awed by the 49-0. Some people are mesmerized by the ). as if no one could beat someone who retired undefeated. Those people overrated him.

Then more people started to realize that records in boxing can be very misleading. Nowadays, being undefeated is almost passe, you see it so often. However, many young fans can't fathom that that there were greater fighters than some of those in recent times. They think the sport really began right when they get interested. They get obsessed with weight, height, and reach, and dismiss some fighters without much thought. Many younger fans now underrate Marciano.

He's both under and over rated for a number of reasons.

Alp is right about the '0'. Let's say that Tyson went to prison before the douglas fight and never came back, where would he be rated now? Same with Louis, Ali all sorts. Rocky was only undefeated because he only held the title for 3 years and then retired. He only fought top level people for about 4 years. look at say Holyfield, he fought top level guys for over 20 years! So Rocky is without doubt in term of achievements not in my top ten heavys.

However, he is underrated by many in terms of one on one fantasy match ups. He didn't beat many top guys and wasn't at the top for long but he was a much much better boxer and athlete than many give him credit for. He wasn't crude, he was well schooled and made the most of his attributes. He had a huge punch for his size and was quite hard to hit. Of course his will to win is legendary and he wouldn't be intimidated by anyone.

So, to conclude, he's not as great as many other heavyweights but.....in a one off fight he'd have a chance and beat many who came before and after him, even those much bigger who may take him for granted. They may well find him hurting them to the body and busting them up and that they can't hit him as easily as they thought.

He's both overrated and underrated. All the guys who fought him said he was one of the best ever. He always found a way to come out on top. Most people find this disagreeable to the senses, because of his size & abilities, but he was certainly better than given credit for.