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Rocky road for Marciano Your Take: Who should made the Top Eight?
Posted: Monday May 03, 1999 01:02 PM
CNN/SI asked users who should have made the Top Eight list for the Century's Best Boxers. The majority of users wanted to know why Rocky Marciano was excluded from the list. Marciano's record speaks volumes. The "Brockton Blockbuster" put together an incredible 49-0 record (with 43 KOs), holding the heavyweight title from 1952-56. Here's a sampling of your responses... George Foreman. Never has there been a fighter who was so totally feared by his generation (in the early 70s). He demolished the most respected contemporaries (Frazier and Norton) with frightening ease. Ali would not have been so "great" were it not for his defeat of Foreman. Foreman not only made a successful comeback at "grandpa" age, but he also became the oldest heavyweight champ ever! His likeable, God-loving character makes him a wonderful role model in a sport where the champs are often viscous immoral thugs. -- Alan Sihoe, Hong Kong If any modern era boxer should have been on the list, it should have been Roy Jones Jr. The only reason he will not go down as one of boxing's greats is because of the lack of competition. His skill, speed, and power would prove tough for any boxer ever in his weight class. -- Jason Kaplan, Los Angeles, CA
I think Julio Cesar Chavez should also be on your list because he dominated the 1980's. He fought and beat everyone who wanted to fight him and he didn't try to avoid any fighter. My opinion is that he both the best junior welterweight ever and one of the greatest fighters ever. -- Gustavo Ibarra, Santa Ana, CA Rocky Marciano comes to mind. He is the only heavyweight champion to retire undefeated and he so decimated the heavyweight division that the subsequent champion, Floyd Patterson, was reduced to fighting the remaining fringe contenders and ridiculously green amateurs. Also, Rocky never weighed more than 185 pounds for a title defense, yet managed to constantly defeat bigger men. -- Walter Andrighetti, Thunder Bay ON, Canada How can you not include someone who went undefeated throughout their entire career? Rocky Marciano must be in the Top Eight! What a superb fighter. Julio Cesar Chavez needs to be there as well, but he probably should have quit boxing a couple of years ago. Roberto Duran's "no mas" statement must drop him out of the top contenders. He's a quitter! -- James Scott, Big Spring, TX Salvador Sanchez, who could easily dispatch his opponents with either hand, deserves to be on any list purporting to include the best boxers of the century. With awesome power, Sanchez often controlled his fights from the opening moments until the inevitable knockout of his opponents. While many of his contemporaries relied on style to distinguish themselves, Sanchez was a master technician of the ring, slowly encircling his victim, sapping their strength with devastating body punches, until he would mercifully end their torment with a knockout blow. Perhaps the most complete boxer-puncher of all time. -- Alonso Leal, Austin, TX Your omission of Sugar Ray Leonard from the Top Eight is unbelievable. He should have made the cut ahead of Roberto Duran (Does anyone recall "No mas"). Sugar came of age in his first fight against Duran, showing he had the grit to go toe to toe with Duran. The lessons he learned in that loss elevated him to another level as evidenced by his thorough humiliation of Duran in their rematch. He also fought and defeated all of the top contenders in several weight classes (Benitez, Hearns, Hagler, etc). There is room for two Sugar Rays in the Top Eight. There is no room for dogs who complain of a belly ache and quit in the middle of a butt whipping. -- Tim Sweeney, St.Paul, MN Even though it's difficult to pit fighters of different generations together, because we don't know how well fighters of the past would have responded to modern techniques, or vice versa, but I don't think many of these boxers could hang with Rocky Marciano or a young Mike Tyson. Their power and strength would be too much, not to mention Marciano's iron jaw and Tyson's quickness. -- Chris Jacobsen, Palm Springs, CA How can you fail to include the exciting Joe Frazier in your list of the Top Eight boxers of the 20th century? Here was a man who, regardless of the outcome, never fought a boring fight. Isn't that the primary goal of boxing? To entertain? Well, in an era of very entertaining fighters (the 1970s) he would have to be ranked in the top three. After all, what would Ali have been without Frazier? -- Adam Veller, Boynton Beach , FL
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