So as to not bury the lead: Whoever comes in with the belt in this matchup, I'd bet against them. Other random thoughts: 1) Overall body of work for Frazier is great. There is no consensus HOF heavyweight with fewer fights than Joe over the past 100 years. You've got to go back to Jeffries for a HOF HW with fewer official pro fights. 2) Joe's title defenses sucked. 3) Sonny's age seems to morph when it's convenient for it to when it comes to Patterson/Clay timeline. Regardless of if you think he was Cryptkeeper old, he was a hell of a fighter for sure...even though I think he still gets a bit overrated here in general. 4) If both were challengers, I'd favor Sonny based on styles, but he couldn't afford an ounce of an off night vs Frazier. 60-40 kind of fight for me. 5) Who comes in as the champ is THE deal-breaker. I wouldn't trust either of them to maintain & defend a belt against top comp for long- too lax once they become champ. Frazier wouldn't successfully defend against Liston, and vice versa. A great revolutionary often doesn't make a great president. Likewise, more fighters are hardwired to become champ than they are to stay champ. Joe and Sonny both fall in to that category for me.
mcvey's right, Joe is as tough an SOB that ever stepped into a ring, but styles clash and Joe's style is made for a guy like Sonny. I'd make Liston a 2-1 favorite
No , though he should have fought Wills. Dempsey was making a fortune in Hollywood that's why he was out so long . Miske and Brennan were a cut above Daniels and Stander. .Frazier had been hammered by Ali, though he won , he wanted no part of a rematch or anyone reasonable.
I'll cotradict my earlier post but add a caveat. Yes.But he made $1000,000 doing it. Apr 1 -Dempsey signed a $1 million deal with Universal Pictures to star in 10 films over 2 years
Frazier by ko late. Sonny is overrated like hell he did nothing literally except beating patterson cleveland williams and getting schooled by a young clay .frazier would **** williams and Patterson even worse than liston did. Frazier fought and beat better oposition than liston did.
Great, short explosive fight. Frazier does his best pogo impression a la George Foreman before the referee has mercy by the end of round 4.
Yea Dempsey drew $ and helped boxing move forward into the modern age. That is the one area with Dempsey nobody can dispute. His fighting style was a big reason.
On the other hand Frazier had the wrong complexion and it was a different time. Running to Hollywood getting your nose fixed, and hanging with Estelle wasn’t an option.
I wanna say Frazier would win, but its a tough call cause idk how Frazier's bobbing and weaving would fare against an 84-inch reach