Could Fritzi Zivic @ his best give Floyd Mayweather a tougher fight than anyone Floyd has faced so far?
Floyd wouldn't fight Zivic. Win or lose, he'd be in a real fight. Zivic may lose, but it would be the toughest fight of his career probably. He was a tough SOB.
I'm one of the few who saw Sir Fritzie Zivic fight...It was in 1945 at MSG when the new sensational puncher Billy Arnold, called "the new Joe Louis" met the veteran Zivic. Billy Arnold was a monstrous young WW out of Philly who flattened 24 of his 26 opponents and people feared for the veteran Zivic's safety...Well Zivic who knew every trick of the trade outthought Billy Arnold to eke out an 8 rd decision...He was a wily tough S.O.B. Mr Zivic...About 1 month later I saw the most exciting fight I ever saw at the old MSG when the "new Joe Louis" hooked up with a young ruffian hooligan named Rocky Graziano. Billy Arnold was an 8-1 favorite to destroy Rocky and in the 1st round his dynamite punches had Graziano floundering and bloody...In the 2nd round Graziano brave as hell uncorked a right hand grenade on Arnold and soon kod him...MSG went crazy and Rocky Graziano became the greatest ring attraction in the USA, and billy Arnold was never the same... Now do I think that Fritzie Zivic at his WW best beat a Floyd Mayweather ? Hell yes... Zivic would get in close, rough up Mayweather, nullify his speed and beat him...Look what Sir Fritzie did with the great Henry Armstrong...In close cut him to ribbons...Different and tougher times than today...
k, did you see Fritzie Zivic fight at all ? How can you insist that Zivic who had 159 fights was "many skill levels below Mayweather ?Do you honestly believe a Mayweather would have stopped the tornado that was Henry Armstrong ? Do you think that a Mayweather would have given a prime dynamic almost 6ft Ray Robinson a tough fight as Zivic did ? Do U think that a Mayweather would have lasted the distance with a Robinson or a Tommy Hearns ? cheers...
Anybody who thinks some dirty tricks is all Zivic had to offer needs to reevaluate their outlook. You don't beat Burley, Armstrong, Lamotta, Booker, Agnott, Azteca, McDowell, Davis without being a skilled ******* who is hard as iron.
Zivic was mediocre. With a "blind" referee he might give Floyd problems, but with a honest one, no, the fight wouldn't even be close.
In over 230 career bouts, not only was Fritzie NEVER DQed, he actually produced a DQ win over Bummy Davis. After flooring Al in round one, Fritzie's thumbing provoked Davis into a retaliatory rage, getting Bummy tossed out. [In the rematch, Fritize again decked him in the first, then beat the **** out of him into a tenth round stoppage.] Fritzie wore the cuffs...a LOT. Otherwise, he'd have surpassed 100 knockout wins by a substantial margin. However, he was described as the harder punching boy for Charley Burley III despite being outweighed, and outboxed Jake LaMotta over the championship distance with his jab and skill [as Burley had defeated him]. He took the final stanza in his 15 round wins over Jake and Armstrong. Had no issues with taking on bigger guys than himself, including Murderer's Row mainstays Burley and Booker. Widely thought to have gotten the better of the Bronx Bull in their first three bouts, and is reported to have stunned LaMotta in all of their bouts. 19 year old prodigy Conn had a rough time with him in 1936, before Billy changed tactics to utilize his height and reach to rally. But there were a few who thought Fritzie won that SD. Make him wear thumb-less and lace-less gloves, BUT, also take away the cuffs when you do so, and this is still a miserably tough ******* for the inexperienced Gay Joy to hit on. Fritzie handed Booker his first career defeat after 45 outings, really beating the **** out of Eddie over the last four rounds, and reports indicate Booker might not have made it to the final bell in a match scheduled for more than eight rounds. A lot of his losses are deceptive. He frequently scored knockdowns in any of those defeats, and fractured the jaw of Ambers in the ninth. The bell ending round ten saved Lou the win, but it seems viable he'd have been stopped over 12 or 15. He was stopped four times by four different opponents. He knocked out Milt Aron and Laddie Tonelli in rematches, and previously defeated Kid Azteca, who finally obtained a knockout win when Fritize was pushing 34, and had over 200 bouts of ring wear against the toughest competition. It took Robinson two tries to stop him, and the ending of that second one in the tenth was furiously challenged by Zivic supported by the MSG audience. He never had a third chance at SRR. Mayweather would want no part of the animal who stopped Armstrong in their rematch. Nobody gets as far as Fritzie did on cheating alone.
Not any sooner than Booker had his eye nearly closed in the 5th, that Zivic was able to turn the tide. If not for eye injury Booker would have won that fight handily.
If more than 50 different men were able to outpoint Zivic 70-80 years ago - then my money would be on Mayweather to be able to do the same.
under modern rules i'd pick floyd more than 50% farly happily, but zivic has the potential to make it a very tough fight, imo more so than anyone floyds faced at WW or above.
Like its been said Zivic was more than a dirty fighter you dont beat some of the men he beat just by being a dirty fighter, against Mayweather and with the strickter rules we have today it would be hard for Zivic to get going plus you can bet Floyd would demand that his fav ref Joe Cortez be assigned to work this fight limiting Zivic chances even more.