How athletic was Joe Frazier?

He was probably the worst athlete, ever to establish himself as a great heavyweight!

He might be the strongest piece of evidence for the prosecution, against the “evolution of the sport” argument, because Jim Jeffries could have run rings round him in any other sport!

 

Joe was a pure warrior. I don't think anyone claims he was a great athlete all around. Boxing is often a warriors game. Hell I don't think Mike Tyson could even ride a bike but we know he was a great fighter.

 

For his style and build, he was pretty athletic. Athletes come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

 

Boxers aren't necessarily athletes they are simply fighters warriors the sport is about so much more than athleticism.

 

If you define athlete as 'someone who participates in a sport' and measure how 'good' they are by how well they play that sport than he was great.

 

Well, I might be crazy, but I-where's the space in your name? Anyway, I might be crazy but I consider boxing a sport, and an athlete to be someone who is a participant in sport, and Frazier to be a great boxing athlete. So to be a great athlete in a sport would make you very athletic. The fact that he was so-Seriously, why no space? What happened there? Anyway, the fact that his attributes didn't seem to translate well to other sports doesn't make boxing a non-sport or him non-athletic. 1+1 does not equal 7. And that does not disqualify ones as numbers, just because they don't equal other numbers when added together. I failed arithmetic in school. I probably should not have gone down that road. But, anyway...

 

Is boxing an athletic endeavor?

Then, I would say pretty ****ing athletic.

 

I cannot believe your comparing Frazier to Ruiz and tho im not shocked cause your an idiot but your calling the 70's one of the best eras in HW history a weak era!? Did you just come out of a 20 year coma or are you just this dumb!?

 

Then explain why 70's heavyweights like Foreman and Larry Holmes could successfully compete against latter day heavyweights from a supposedly "superior" generation despite being well, well past their best as fighters?

And don't give me some bull**** that they'd somehow improved as fighters in their 40's to compete with the super heroes from the modern era.

 

Threads like these make me happy I have that ***** Elroy on ignore

 

The why is this guy among the best that it has ever produced?

 

It has to be for attention. His statements are always the same clueless sh**.

 

Elroy...just curious..but can i ask you 2 questions ?
1.Is your 'downer' on this era a 'poke' at Ali ?
2.If it is...can you list the fighters from your 'stronger era's' in the 80's and 90's that would beat an early seventies version of Ali..?...it must be a longish list ?...be interested to study it ?

 

He was a fighter, not a sprinter or a weightlifter or a swimmer. Being a fast runner will not make you a good boxer, has nothing to do with it. Being a power lifter will not help you slip punches. Being able to swim like a shark will not in any way make you a better boxer.
Being a better boxer has to do with dedicating yourself to your craft, adapting your style to your strengths and abilities, and, if you are lucky, being around guys that can teach you how to fight.