I would pay big bucks for a ringside seat!! Dwight was very accurate. He would land some great shots on Joe but Joe eventually grinds him down and hurts him with the bigger shots. Joe stops him late in a close hotly contested fight.
I think a prime Qawi is on Frazier's level he's a better counter puncher, better defence, and has better punch variety. At Heavyweight Frazier would win as Qawi's best weight is Light Heavyweight and he hasn't got the dimensions to be successful at Heavyweight being only 5'6. But if you're talking on a P4P basis I think Qawi is as good as Frazier in their primes.
Qawi would have his moments but the bigger stronger Frazier is too relentless . Frazier by stoppage before the 10th .
While I respect the demonstrable toughness and prowess of Dwight Muhammad Qawi, I find it mind boggling that some people are picking him to give Joe Frazier fits. Maybe Dwight hangs in there for several rounds and shows some grit but I think this is a decisive win for Frazier.
As skilled and formidable as Qawi was, I've thought for a long time now that he was a little bit of a front runner and flat track bully, though it doesn't seem to be the consensus. Not a mental midget by any stretch as the first Holyfield fight showed (though aided in that fight imo by Holy's inexperience and tendency to trade recklessly). Great when he could enforce that spiteful, heavy-handed, refined slip/counter approach but inconsistent mentally and not quite the same indomitable, undeterrable buzzsaw when opponents were able to turn the tables on him somewhat. He sleepwalked through parts of the Spinks fight imo and didn't apply the sort of pressure he was capable of. Obviously Spinks was a great fighter who there was no shame in losing to, but I do think that Qawi was mentally frustrated by Spink's conservative approach, his hideous but effective movement and also slightly spooked by the threat of his power. He didn't seem keen at hanging around and keeping himself in shape for a rematch despite being competitive in the fight and able to make 175 without too much difficulty. He wasn't really suited to the higher weight classes despite nabbing a belt at cruiser and should've stuck at light heavy for another crack at Spinks imo but was content to blow himself up to the new more obscure weight class. The way he tanked in the Holyfield rematch once it became apparent that Vander was a different proposition to the first fight and turning his back in the Foreman fight once he realised that he could neither deter Foreman not avoid his best punches doesn't do anything to sway me the other way. I'd probably expect him to land a fair bit on Frazier early on countering up close while Joe was warming up a bit how Quarry did, but then probably fold quicker once he started taking the sort of shots that Frazier hit Quarry with.
Qawi is better, but Frazier is just too big, Qawi can’t keep Frazier off, Frazier would get him against the ropes and dig in the body shots when Qawi starts slipping and rolling and he’d wear him down.
In regards to the Spinks vs Qawi fight I've always felt Spinks got Qawi's respect early and that set the tone for the rest of the fight. Spinks hit Qawi with a booming right hand in the 1st round and he let Qawi know he had the power and I think Qawi had to approach Spinks more cautiously from that point on. I do consider Spinks one of the hardest hitting Light Heavyweights of all time aswell.