I remember watching Frazier for the first time against Ali in their first fight. I was shocked that a heavyweight could set such a ferocious pace, he fought like a man possessed. His constant head movement, punch output and relentless pressure was exhausting to watch let alone execute. His left hook for me is the single most aesthetically pleasing punch from any heavyweight ever. I have a lot of admiration and respect for Frazier.
I think you will struggle to find someone who dislikes Frazier. He's well inside my top 5 favourites.
Frazier was at his absolute best on March 8, 1971 for FOTC...he was NEVER at that level again....to be fair to Frazier, no one that ever fought him post 3/8/71.. ever again had to deal with THAT version of Smokin' Joe..he was really special that night in MSG, he was tuned to concert pitch for the most significant fight of his career...and he WON IT!! It's TAHT version of Frazier, and that version alone of Frazier should be considered and used in figuring him into any hypothetical matches.
Inside the ring he represented everything I love about boxing..."spirit", courage, will, determination and focus in abundance. Truly inspirational.
my grandad, who i've mentioned a lot on here, was a huge frazier fan....he used to tell me he was one of the toughest heavyweights ever, he spoke about him more highly than marciano in that regard...i would say "well, look at what foreman did to him, he battered him"....only for him to say "exactly, my point exactly, even george foreman couldnt keep frazier down on the canvas...truly tough joe was.."
This is my favourite Frazier tribute [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFxiT5XRZ7I&feature=player_embedded[/ame]
I don't care much for his style, but he's up there with Joe Louis when it comes to my most respected fighters.
Even I draw the line at rating Frazier a better swarmer than Armstrong, and it should also be noted that his style helped finish him - Armstrong just thrived - but yeah, he was definitely superb.
Despite my username and all that, I have never really clicked with smokin' joe the way a lot of posters on this board have. I think I might have to do with his reliance on his left- I like swarmers with a large arsenal of punches, and while I like his obviously great left hook, his right was underutilized(with the exception of a good short straight to the body). He was left handed. I wonder what he would have been like if he had trained southpaw?
He wrote that being a southpaw doesn't mean **** inside of the pocket in his boxing instruction book.