Kid Dynamite Vs. Smokin' head movement

Frazier was harder to catch clean IMO. Tysons peak a boo is basically a side to side. Fraziers head movement was much more versatile. Joe didn't have Mike's speed but he was much more versatile with his bob n weave. Joe also rolled his head with incoming shots as well.

 

Frazier strictly went up and down, hence why Foreman couldn’t miss him with uppercuts. Tyson’s movement had more dimensions, as he moved his head in all directions and his switch-hitting made him much harder to pin down.
He was faster too.

That being said I think Frazier was better combining his defense with his offense, he was harder to hit when he was throwing.

 

Absolutely not true. Fraziers bob n weave had his head moving side to side as well as up and down

 

No. Foreman wouldn’t have demolished him so badly if that was the case, had him ducking into uppercuts all night long.

 

How about instead of concentrating on one single past his prime performance you open your mind and watch some prime Frazier. This would be like me judging Ali based on one fight.

 

Compare Frazier before and after the first Ali fight. Earlier in his career, he bent his knees more and created lateral angles with his upper-body movement. After that fight, his defense became much more reliant on simply hinging forward, making him more predictable and leaving him especially vulnerable to Foreman's shots.

 

Frazier always went forward. He did have more mobility in his younger days but it was mostly limited to him swaying when he went down which allowed him to roll with incoming hooks. I have never seen him full on roll to the sides or take a side step and catch his opponents off-guard from the side angles like Tyson does.

 

I think Tyson was more versatile with his head movement.

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20250827081000/https://coxscorner.tripod.com/duck.html

Boxing historian Monte. D Cox identified Frazier as having the highest slip-and-duck rates he had ever encountered.

 

Tyson was much harder to hit cleanly. Look at the 1st and third Ali fight. Joe was easy to hit with jabs, almost as if Joe's face was magnetized to Ali's glove. I'm surprised they didnt work on his defense more. Try blocking a few with your elbows and gloves instead of your face

 

Tyson never faced a jab near Ali's level, that includes Holmes and Lewis, the difference is Ali would have been able to catch Tyson with lead rights and really bust him up, Tyson would have been running into Ali's fist because the way he moved fast completely committed him to finishing the head movement to a particular and predictable side, where Frazier could stop it short and drop down, Frazier's movement was better at throwing a wrench in the counter or oncoming punches

Frazier was slicker, able to roll with punches better, it was a more effective tool, Tyson was more conditioned predefined movement

 

Holmes had a better jab than Ali.

 

But not at the age of 38 comparing to FotC version of Ali.