Would Frazier Walk Through Shavers Bomb's..?

I think that Quarry, at his best, could give Foreman some issues, like he did Mac Foster and Ron Lyle. But I also think that Foreman was better than those guys. I would like to see the fight but I wouldn't bet on it.

 

You have a bit of a few questions mixed ... Frazier would not walk through Shavers bombs, no way ... they question is if Earnie would land before Joe got to him ... it would be a very tricky first round or two ..

 

I favor Frazier, but it wouldn't be a good idea for Frazier to attempt to walk through Shavers bombs. He would be better off trying to avoid them.

 

Not to take anything away from Quarry who could get some nice steam on his punches but I’ve always felt that Shavers folded very easily in that fight, - as measured against Shavers himself and his own demonstrated durability in other fights.

Often, what ultimately bit Earnie in the ass in several of his losses inside the distance was the fact that, by the time of the KO/stoppage, he was also incredibly fatigued/exhausted after shooting his wad while gunning for any early round KO that didn’t manifest.

Though, I guess Ellis also had Earnie rock’n’ and reel’n’ somewhat in the first round before Earnie himself lowered the boom.

Jimmy himself had some decent power when inclined and properly set - Ringo would’ve attested to same.

I don’t think that Frazier was necessarily a slow starter per se, rather, to smoke as Frazier did when he hit his full head of steam was a sublime pace that other fighters couldn’t even dream of being capable of.

Naturally, full smoke Joe might take a round or two - so that window (first 1-2 rounds) for Shavers, who liked to launch himself like a bull out of the gate at first bell, would provide for Earnie’s best chance of victory by way of a quick KO imo.

That doesn’t mean Joe was highly vulnerable early in a fight - just that he was a bit more vulnerable early than he was later in a fight - Joe has a sufficient number of reasonably fast starts and abbreviated wins on his resume to uphold his early round potency otherwise.

All in all, I would afford Frazier the ability to avoid any fight ending bombs, going on to brutally stop Shavers.

The indefatigable Frazier was the last guy you would want to start tiring against - especially before the fight was even a third of the way through. Frightening.

 

You nailed it--spot on summary--exactly as I envision this hypothetical matchup. Frazier would wear Shavers down fairly quickly with relentless pressure.

 

It's a dangerous fight for Frazier who I will always say was a bit untested against big KO punchers of that era.

Not that I'm suggesting Frazier avoided them I'm just saying he never fought them so we don't quite know how he holds up vs big punching KO artists.

And when Frazier can't fight on the backfoot coming forward against bigger men with crushing power that is always a bit of danger.

But saying that i would expect Frazier to stop Shavers in the middle rounds maybe after a few scares along the way where he gets rocked and maybe dropped.

Despite the threat stylistically of Shavers you'd have to favour the much more high quality fighter in Frazier.

 

Shavers broke his hand punching Stander in the forehead.

 

Frazier wouldn't walk through his punches. Nobody would just grit their teeth and walk through Shavers. Even the cinder block chinned Tex Cobb was in awe of his power and said if anyone hit harder than Shavers, he'd shoot him.

But to answer the question of who would win a fight, the answer is likely Frazier but this would be an incredibly dangerous fight for either guy. Frazier could be vulnerable early and didn't do so great with bigger guys with lethal power, bro could Frazier fight on the back foot or play slickster. Shavers on the other hand had both leaky defense and a limited gas tank, 2 things you don't want to bring to the table against a work horse lien Frazier who has energy to go all 15 suffocating you with pressure.

If Frazier survived the early storm, I expect him to suffer a knockdown or 2, then meet Shavers ring center in a thrilling war. Frazier eventually grinds him down and stops him late more often than not, but again, dangerous fight with a reasonable possibility of Shavers getting a home run KO. 0% chance it goes the distance under any circumstances. The two of them were way too aggressive, hard hitting, and vulnerable for that.

 

Yeah, I don’t think Joe expressly avoided big punchers - though it seems perhaps that Yank Durham wasn’t too thrilled about Joe engaging same - I think Yank wasn’t too pleased when Joe faced Foreman.

As it was, due to happenstance, Quarry took care of two guys - Lyle and Shavers - who would’ve provided as interesting opponents for Frazier otherwise.

As such, Quarry sort of ran a nice block on Joe’s “behalf” - and all Joe had to do was rematch the rejuvenated Quarry and beat him again - an outcome that I suspect wasn’t in any doubt.

It would’ve been better for his resume if Joe was expressly more broadly applied post FOTC but he really didn’t have a lot of fights after that at any rate.

Of course old mate Norton was never an option for Joe.

 

No one ever really “walks through” any punch provided it isn’t a few specific circumstances… but Quarry ate them with little issue.

 

Two different questions; who would win and could Frazier walk through Shavers's bombs? Frazier and no.

 

On paper Shavers has the punch power required to stop Joe.

But I doubt he is good enough to use it correctly.

It is frequently assumed Foreman blasted Joe just with sheer brute force. But that is the wrong take. More than brute force is required to stop Smoking Joe.

Foreman blasted Joe because he had amazing punch power and knew HOW TO GET THE MOST OF IT.
Foreman used his physical advantage to keep Joe out of balance and set him up for his bombs.

I doubt Shavers is skilled or smart enough to do likewise.

 

No but Fraziers good enough to win anyway.

Frazier didn't fight Norton, Jimmy Young, Lyle or Shavers but Shavers is clearly the weak link of that group. It might not be pretty but Frazier should win. The other 3 I'm leaning towards the other guy. Among power guys Lyles the more difficult matchup for sure.