Greatest Boxer of All Time

[|iR|Focalor]

I'm bored. You bored? Thought so. So let's do a damn poll.

[adz1La]

hard to argue with undefeated

[|iR|Focalor]

hard to argue with undefeated

Yep. 90-something and 0. Even Anderson Silva ain't got shit on that.

But... one could argue that because of some of his mob connected acquaintances and his own Italian heritage, said mob connected persons would have plenty to gain by rigging fights for their Italian champion. Nevertheless, I don't think much rigging would've been required. The man could probably punch dents into a dump truck bed.

Things were different back then though. The boxers of today have a lot more technical skill with their movement than the boxers of the old days. Back then, guys would just stand in front of each other like statues and trade shots. Really the only movement they did was with their waist.

I have little doubt that if you put Marciano against some of the heavyweights of today, not only would he not qualify for the weight class, but even if you ignored the weights, he'd still get his head ripped off. Thing is, with the body size of heavyweights, it takes a lot of energy to both throw the punches with power AND move, so they get pretty tired and slow after 3 rounds. I think that's probably why more people pay attention to the lighter weight classes in boxing these days. These guys are lighter, lower body fat ratios without starving themselves, better cardio, and they move pretty fresh even after 5 rounds. Even with smaller frames, they still manage to put almost the same amount of measurable power in PSI into a punch that the heavyweights do.

But I've seen lots of Muhammad Ali fights on tape. Also seen a number of Marciano fights, although not as many as Ali's. And from what I've seen, I think if you stuck both of them in their primes against each other, it would be a pretty close brawl for the first several rounds. But Marciano always looked to be the guy a lot harder to knock out or even rattle. He would've held up a lot longer than Ali. And eventually he would've found a handful of openings to deliver some deadly single hits, and that handful would've been all he needed. Dude was just powerful.

Probably the best moment of his career when he knocked Joe Louis through the ropes out of the ring and damn near onto the arena floor.

<span data-s9e-mediaembed="youtube" style="display:inline-block;width:100%;max-width:640px"><span style="display:block;overflow:hidden;position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" style="background:url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sD5uOEpV3zE/hqdefault.jpg) 50% 50% / cover;border:0;height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;width:100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sD5uOEpV3zE"></iframe></span></span><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/sD5uOEpV3zE" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/sD5uOEpV3zE</a>

[adz1La]

for some reason 49-0 sticks with me as being his record..

[|iR|Focalor]

Yeah, Wiki says you're right. I knew he went undefeated his whole career, just thought it was in the 90's somewhere. Still, 49 is pretty god damn impressive, and 43 of those were KO's. Would be cool to know how many were first knockdown KO's and how many were TKO's, but wiki doesn't list it.

[|iR|Focalor]

An interesting read... I guess. A pretty comprehensive list of people who have died as a result of boxing matches in the past century and a half or so. How in the hell something like this ever got compiled is beyond me. Even lists shit from well before the Civil War.

http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_b_0700_archive.htm

Noticed in one of them, it was a fight sometime in the late 1800's, a black guy vs a white guy, and when the white guy died, the local sheriff took out a warrant for the black guys arrest. How the fucking times have changed. People screaming "racist" and "discrimination" every 5 seconds these days really have no fucking idea what REAL discrimination is.

[adz1La]

that is a fucking impressive stats page..goes back to 1732..holy shnikes

think I got his record from some video game..43 ko's is damn impressive, regardless of how they come (chance of them being brawl till you falls - pretty high?)

/shrug

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/greatest/featureVideo?page=greatest110

[|iR|Focalor]

Yeah, that's another thing. Way way back in the old days, they didn't fucking HAVE decisions. You fought til one guy was splayed out on the mat with his brains leaking out his ears. If that meant you went 4 or 5 hours and 100 rounds, you kept going until someone lost.

[Fraginstein]

Wow, we're talking about two completely different classes of fighters; Rocky was a brawler with a jaw made of iron, a heart normally reserved for Knighthood & one of the hardest puncher's of all time.  Ali was a Boxer, with cunning, grace & speed.  Rocky Marciano by the way, was Sylvester Stallone's main inspiration for his Rocky character, as well as Ali, was the main inspiration for "Apollo Creed."   So it's kind of ironic you chose these two for your poll, cuz' obviously it was the similar question Sylvester Stallone had, when he was inspired to write the book/screen play for "Rocky" the movie.   With that said, IMO, if Ali was to try & slug it out with Rocky, Ali would get knocked out.  But, Rocky didn't have the grace & speed that Ali had, & if Ali was to just play it smart & stay away & keep dancing in & out, stick & jab, then Ali would win with the score cards!  (both fighter's in their prime of'course)  Ali was a smart fighter, just like he knew he couldn't slug it out with George Foreman & Foreman was a little too fast to keep dancing around & running from, so Ali did his "rope a dope" until Foreman was tired, then Ali went in for the kill.  But Ali way out graced Marciano & could easily dance in & out, hit & run & win with points!

[adz1La]

alright, that is bullshit...that isn't where Rocky came from..



http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/page/IamChuckWepner/chuck-wepner-recognized-rocky-fame


try again

[Fraginstein]

alright, that is bullshit...that isn't where Rocky came from..


http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/page/IamChuckWepner/chuck-wepner-recognized-rocky-fame


try again

   I apologize, you are correct Sir, the story outline was based on Wepner's experience.  So that was an extremely miss-guided assumption on my part.  I do hope you can forgive my miserable existence for assuming such from the mere fact the name "Rocky" & style/heart of the "character" Sylvester Stallone portrayed was inspired by Rocky Marciano.  >   Rocky   

Ps.  Please feel free to send me the cleaning bill for your boots! 

[Sgt. Dick]

I'm not saying Hopkins is the greatest boxer, this just seemed like a good place to post this.

At 49 yrs old he is still the best in his weight class. 

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/10811107/bernard-hopkins-49-unifies-world-titles-decision-beibut-shumenov