- a lot of people say he would beat the Klitschkos and other (physically much bigger) Heavyweight Greats of other eras. But people forget the most important thing about Marciano's career: he was not only a small guy, he was a small guy winning against OTHER SMALL fighters. Check out all his 7 world title fights and you will see all of his opponents were around his height and weight. People always think in the back of their head that Marciano was a small dude knocking out bigger fighters, but that is untrue: Marciano just looked smaller than his opponents because of his crouching style.
So here is the problem: If Marciano beat guys around 190 pounds and basically never fought a top guy above 190 pounds, how in the world can anybody say how he would do against Frazier, Ali, Foreman, Klitschko or Lewis who are all well above 220 pounds for the most part of their career.
It is not only about the weight, but Marciano's opponents were also not taller than himself: Of Marciano's 7 world title fight opponents, Archie Moore and Don C_ockell were exactly as tall as Marciano (5 foot 11 inches), and Walcott, Charles and LaStarza were only 1 inch taller than Marciano.
So bottom line is this: Marciano never fought a guy above 6 foot tall in his title fights.
So here is the problem: If Marciano beat guys around 190 pounds and basically never fought a top guy above 190 pounds, how in the world can anybody say how he would do against Frazier, Ali, Foreman, Klitschko or Lewis who are all well above 220 pounds for the most part of their career.
It is not only about the weight, but Marciano's opponents were also not taller than himself: Of Marciano's 7 world title fight opponents, Archie Moore and Don C_ockell were exactly as tall as Marciano (5 foot 11 inches), and Walcott, Charles and LaStarza were only 1 inch taller than Marciano.
So bottom line is this: Marciano never fought a guy above 6 foot tall in his title fights.