Buster Douglas v Joe Frazier - Who ranks higher and why?

Both have one of the greatest victories in boxing history on their resume, Frazier taking Ali's 0 and Douglas taking Tyson's 0, and both have been completely blown out of the water by the only other great heavyweight they faced (Foreman for Frazier and Holyfield for Douglas).

If you then look at each fighter resume you see that their top 5 wins are both pretty poor.

My own opinion is that Douglas has the greatest single victory by beating pre-prison and invincible Tyson, where as Fraziers victory over Ali was shadowed by Ali's 3 years in prison prior to the fight with Ali not the fighter he was prior to prison imo.

However Fraziers trilogy with Ali gives him a higher standing despite the 2 defeats and his top 5 victories are slightly better than Douglas' imo.

I rank Frazier slightly above Douglas because of this, who do you rank higher and why?

 

Buster Douglas. Beating prime Tyson is just one step below beating prime Calzaghe.

 

People will attack you for this... But Douglas has the best win. Frasier ranks higher due to being from the so called 'golden age' and being competitive with Ali.

Imo Frasier is the most overrated heavy of all time

 

obviously buster achieved the higher valued single victory.

obviously frazier is the higher ranked, having made several defences.

 

buster did not beat a prime tyson, he was already losing his skills the minute he became champion, fame and fortune destroyed tyson

 

Frazier of course.

Douglas was a one hit wonder with the single biggest upset in boxing history under his belt, while Frazier actually had longlivity and beat a variety of other top fighters. Plus I had him winning 2 out of 3 against Ali.

 

buster douglas outclassed a peak tyson, hence douglas>frazier. when holyfield knocked out douglas he became greater than both.

 

so how do you explain why finer fighters than buster got beat by Tyson for years?

you dont explain it?

 

Tyson had started slacking, but still should have beaten Douglas. But I'd agree you'd still have to classify him as prime, if not peak.(If that makes any sense.)

Agreed. Although I still think Tyson, at his best beats Buster. But Buster did his job, and on that one night, he was the best HW in the world.

Agreed.

 

Douglas compared to Frazier? Obviously Douglas was in the right place at the right time. He was fortunate to bump into a Tyson who was not in shape. What did he do after that?

Frazier is a dam legend, fought all the heavyweight monsters at their peak.

 

Frazier

Troll/sarcastic pick - Douglas

 

Barring Ali, what do you consider Fraziers top 5 victories?

 

Ali was way past peak when he fought Frazier. Frazier went 1 in 5 vs. the "heavyweight monsters". Yes, he lost 4 times and won once. And that one win was razor thin against an Ali who just came out of jail :rofl

 

Ali was coming off stoppage wins over Quarry and Bonavena going into the fight. And he was, if he was not at his best, he was still damned good. It's not like chunks of ring rust were dropping off him when he stepped into the ring that evening.

 

A lot of new, pop culture boxing fans in here.

Frazier easy.