SPORTS SHORTS 155: ROCKY MARCIANO VS. FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR., WHO IS THE BETTER UNDEFEATED FIGHTER?
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 24 Jun 2021
The debate on who is the better fighter between two undefeated world champions Rocky Marciano and Floyd Mayweather Jr. lingers on through the years, even after the death of Marciano and the retirement of Mayweather.
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Rocky Marciano was born Rocco Francis Marchegiano on September 1, 1923 in Brockton, Massachusetts, U.S.A. He competed professionally from 1947 to 1955, retired in 1956 with a perfect record of 49-0 with 43 knockouts in his legendary career. His KO rate is 87.76% fighting 241 total rounds.
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He was the world heavyweight champion from 1952 to 1956. He is the only heavyweight title holder to finish his career undefeated. His six title defenses were against Jersey Joe Walcott whom he defeated for the world heavyweight title, Roland La Starza, Ezzard Charles twice, Don Cockell and Archie Moore.
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Nicknamed "Brockton Blockbuster", he has an amateur record of 10-4 with 8 KOs. Marciano represented the Army team and won the 1946 Amateur Armed Forces boxing tournament.
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He competed in the AAU Olympic tryouts in the Boston Garden. During the tournament, he knocked out George McInnis, but injured his hands during the fight and was forced to withdraw from the competition. It proved to be his last amateur bout.
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Standing 5’10” and barely weighing more than 188 pounds, Marciano was able to overcome disadvantages in size and weight. Marciano knocked out Joe Louis in 1951, who was heavier by almost thirty pounds. But his superb power could overcome his size deficit which is done by only few fighters in history.
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He fought in three matches declared by Ring magazine as Fight Of The Year, and his fights were all-action packed which attracted huge crowds to come to all of his title fights. But then his family pressured him to retire from the fights at only 32-years-old.
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Marciano remains the only fighter who have knocked out every opponent he has ever faced for the world heavyweight title, and held the highest knockout-to-win ratio in world heavyweight title fights at 85.7%.
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Floyd Mayweather Jr. competed between 1996 and 2015, and made a one-fight comeback in 2017 against first timer Conor McGregor. Pretty Boy was 50-0 with 27 knockouts for a KO rate of 54% fighting 397 total rounds and has an amateur record of 37-6, 0 KO.
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During his career he won fifteen major world championships from super featherweight to light middleweight, including the Ring magazine title in five weight classes, the lineal championship in four weight classes, twice at welterweight, and retired with an undefeated record.
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As an amateur, Mayweather won a bronze medal in the featherweight division at the 1996 Olympics, three U.S. Golden Gloves championships at light flyweight, flyweight, and featherweight, and the U.S. national championship at featherweight.
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Mayweather was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the 2010s by the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA), a two-time winner of The Ring Fighter of the Year award in 1998 and 2007, and a three-time winner of the BWAA Fighter of the Year award in 2007, 2013, and 2015.
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In 2016, Mayweather was ranked by ESPN as the greatest boxer of the world, pound for pound, of the last 25 years. Currently BoxRec ranks him the greatest boxer of all time, pound for pound.
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Many sporting news and boxing websites, including The Ring, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, BoxRec, Fox Sports, and Yahoo! Sports, ranked Mayweather as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world twice for a period of ten years.
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Mayweather has a record of 26 consecutive wins in world title fights (10 by KO), 23 wins (9 KOs) in lineal title fights, 24 wins (7 KOs) against former or current world titlists, 12 wins (3 KOs) against former or current lineal champions, and 4 wins (1 KO) against International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees.
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Mayweather was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the class of 2021 and was one of the most lucrative pay-per-view attractions of all time, not only in boxing, but in any sport.
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He came out No. 1 in the Forbes and Sports Illustrated lists of the 50 highest-paid athletes of 2012 and 2013, and the Forbes list again in both 2014 and 2015, identifying him as the highest-paid athlete in the world.
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In 2006, he founded his own boxing promotions company, Mayweather Promotions, after abandoning Bob Arum and Top Rank. In 2018, Mayweather was the highest paid athlete in the world, with earnings amounting to $275 million.
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Mayweather has generated approximately 24 million PPV buys and $1.67 billion in revenue throughout his career, breaking the records of the former top PPV attractions including Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao.
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Mayweather won against current and former champions like Diego Corrales, José Luis Castillo, Zab Judah, Carlos Baldomir, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley, Victor Ortiz, Miguel Cotto, Canelo Alvarez, Marcos Maidana, Robert Guerrero, Manny Pacquiao, and Andre Berto.
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Mayweather fought McGregor on August 26, 2017, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Mayweather earned a guaranteed purse of $100 million and McGregor was guaranteed $30 million.
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With a crowd of 14,623 in attendance, Mayweather won via TKO in the 10th round, surpassing Rocky Marciano and setting the record for the longest active unbeaten streak in a professional boxing career at 50–0.
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Rocky Marciano vs. Floyd Mayweather. Who's the better undefeated fighter? Mayweather wins the career record and the revenues. Marciano wins the knockout rate and the fights against bigger and heavier opponents.
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Deandre Ayton dunked the winning basket from a Jae Crowder alley-oop pass at the buzzer to give the Phoenix Suns a 104-103 victory over the LA Clippers and a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern conference finals.
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With 30.9 seconds left in the game, Paul George's layup lifted the Clippers to their first lead since the third quarter. Devin Booker quickly sank a 15-footer to give the Suns back the lead. George retaliated with a long 2 pointer to put the Clippers ahead 103-102 with 22.2 seconds left.
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After a Suns turnover and missed 3-pointer, George was fouled and went to the free throw line, hoping to give LA a three-point lead. George missed both crucial free throws, and the Suns still had a chance with 0.9 seconds to let Phoenix take the winning basket dipped by Ayton.
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Sport climbing is an event to be held in the Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Two events will be held, one for men and one for women. The proposed format will consist of three disciplines: lead climbing, speed climbing and bouldering. The winner will be determined based on who performs best in all three disciplines.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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