By the books, is Foreman-Frazier 1 the best victory ever?

Louis tends to get a pass for this defeat, losing when on a title chase like that should seriously effect your legacy.

 

Winning the rematch in 1, and going on to set the unbroken record for defenses more than makes up for it.

 

Yes they were good achievements for the day but any ATG HW would do the same with his opposition let's be honest.

 

Louis vs Schmeling I & II are both great fights/battles in boxing history.

 

So any ATG would go undefeated against his opposition over 11 years and 25 defenses against the best?

 

I'm saying the modern greats would go through Louis' opposition like a hot knife through butter.

 

I disagree. Too much value is given to single performances or even occurrences. It is fighting, anything can happen. It makes me laugh when I see people who discredit someone if they are insufficiently dominant in a victory. Schmeling I was good for Louis, he became better and showed he could bounce back in the rematch.

 

Exactly. He was an improved fighter after this.

 

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. People don't like to see close wins because it "exposes" a fighter.... then they punish fighters who are too dominant.

 

I think it's not just the fact Foreman beat Frazier, it was the total destruction.
Can we think of any other heavyweight in history who could have did that to Frazier? Certainly no other heavyweight in his own era came close to doing that to Frazier.
It's up there and may just be number 1.

 

I can, but none were around at the time.

 

Frazier beating Ali is the greatest win in heavyweight history, actually in all of boxing history. The fight dominated the headlines for weeks prior to the fight. The fight lived up to hype. The noise around the fight blew away anything the NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL could dream of.