At what point in the swimming video does Joe "nearly drown"? He looks extremely inexperienced, but at no point was he in danger of drowning, based on what I saw.
It almost doesn't make sense that he can be what he was as a boxer and it translated THAT BADLY to everything else.
Obviously he was athletic enough to achieve what he did at boxing. How fast he could run, swim, or how much weight he could lift above his head makes no difference.
I don't think it matters one iota how athletic or unathletic Frazier was. It's how effective he was, and he was probably the greatest heavyweight inside pressure fighter / swarmer there ever was.
Joe struggled at sports he was woefully inexperienced at /ill equipped to do...big f***ing deal. Holding that against Frazier is like marking Michael Jordan down as a basketballer because he was **** at table tennis. Joe was a brilliant athlete because he excelled at his chosen sport (arguably the toughest and most grueling sport of all) and he overcame some severe physical limitations to do so. To say otherwise is nonsense.
I think you are right, FOF. You get good at something by doing it regularly, so if you lift weights you get good at lifting weights. I have worked with people in labouring jobs who could out lift me in the gym, but they couldn't keep up with me doing the job. On the other hand, I have done a job that was new to me like digging, and been completely ****ed! Yet guys who are used to it can do it all day. Some people will make the footage out to be a sign that Frazier was not an athlete and this may be true, but he was a fighter; a very specific type of conditioning is required for that.
HE, You could view it the other way around. Judging how Bonevvna nearly finished Frazier, he's not taking Jeffries punches. I do not think Frazier hit harder than Fitz, who never came close to flooring Jeffries. Frazier's durability or lack thereof has been discussed before. Frazier was down and hurt in the Olympics, and as amateur, in addition being to taking an 8 count vs. a no-name and stunned by merely average hitters when they landed as a pro's. Frazier had the heart of a lion, but just an average type of chin and had swelling issues. His career conveniently avoided matches with other punchers not named Foremen. Back to how athletic was Frazier; it’s how you define it. Frazier had the stamina of a rock and roll musician in his prime, the ability to athletically bob and weave, and very good hand speed. So if hand speed, flexibility, and stamina are part of being athletic, Frazier had that. Most heavyweight champions are not great athletes in a track and field or weight room sense. This is why I laugh when some suggest that the NBA or Baseball is stealing from boxing. No way! Football, perhaps. I have debated this before, and it comes down to this. To be a heavyweight, you have to deal with being hit hard and have some guts. If a top athlete does have this, he'll flunk out of boxing as soon as he's tested.
I disagree with you on this one .. Frazier fought in the most aggressive manner with the highest level of risk and did it with one eye for almost his entire career .. In 27 rounds Bonavena hurt him in only one of them. He took the best bombs of a flat footed Ali, the same Ali that KO'ed Foreman, stopped Lyle and flattened Bonavena. I think he had far more than an average, actually a pretty terrific one ..
Frazier's chin was very good. You can't fight in that style with a jaw like a Seth Mitchell or Michael Grant (genuinely poor chins)because you inevitably have to take punches to deliver your own when you're built like Joe or Rocky or even Mike Tyson. The punches Frazier withstood from Ali in rounds 13 and 14 in Manilla was incredible I think. They were hard, fast, flush shots delivered at a blinded Joe in quick succession with no respite and Joe barely stumbled. Joes beating by Foreman says more about Foremans' massive power than Joes chin imo.