Joe Frazier 1971...with hindsight

I'd have him fight a series of "White Hopes" for low risk and good money. Then after cashing in, set up a rematch with Ali. Avoid Foreman like the plague.

 

I think Frazier had paid his dues by then. After all, Quarry,Ellis and Ali were the guys to beat. Joe had cleaned house about as thoroughly as possible. At that point, having won the fight of the century, nobody would have held anything against him to retire. Joe had just won the richest fight in history and the kids coming through Foreman, Norton, Lyle and Bugner in 1971 were still largely unproven. Nothing but an Ali rematch was a super fight and he'd just beat him.

With hindsight if I managed Frazier I would have took Frazier to London for just one more fight against the British champion in Wembley stadium. In 1966 Ali had made his biggest purse up until his exile doing just that. The money would have been better than Foreman in Kingston 1973 and he would have won. At that moment in 1971 off the back of the recent Bugner v Cooper fight I don't think Foreman was that much higher regarded than Bugner as a ticket seller. A 1971 Frazier v Bugner fight would have been signed weeks after the Ali fight for that August, preventing Bugner from defending against Blin (and crucially) Bodel. Joe would retire undefeated after an international defence. A decent stadium fight.

 

Fight Mac Foster, possibly that Jose Luis Garcia guy, and then take on Foreman.

 

At that time,though,Foreman would n't have been perceived as that much of a threat. A wise head would have realised that Joe would have lost to Ali in a rematch in spite of his victory over him in FOTC. From a financial point of view,nonetheless,it would have made sense. Nobody other than Ali would have been considered a major danger to Frazier.

 

Do a world tour fighting top local guys -- England (as mentioned), a couple of Europeans, then rematch Ali for the biggest bucks possible.

 

**"THE PITBULL ACROSS THE PLANET" WORLD TOUR**

**"U.S.A vs THE WORLD"**

**"THERE ARE NO CHALLENGERS LEFT AS GOOD AS ALI"**

**"THOSE CLUMSY BRAWLER TYPES ARE THE WORST"**

**"FOREMAN IS A STUPID NAME AND HE HASN'T PROVEN ANYTHING"**

The undefeated heavyweight champion of the world Joe Frazier has solidified his dominance in the U.S through his victory over former unbeaten champion Muhammad Ali. Having trounced his most formidable foe on native soil, Joe Frazier now calls out the world --he will take on national champions one by one and assert that the homeland he has consolidated is indeed the greatest boxing nation on the planet.

Will you stand with him, peoples of America? Against foreign scum?! Yes you will. I knew you would. Let's wave a flag and feel better. Yes. That's it. For Joe. For Frazier. For the U.S of A! Let's wave harder. Oh yeah. Can you feel it? Can you digg it? Who's the best?! Frazier!! Who got beat?! Ali!! Who don't we know?! Foreman!!

*is dragged away by men in white coats*

 

Take Frazier for a tour of fights thru Europe. England first, fighting whoever was on top at that time. Right after the FOTC get with Micky Duff (or whoever) and have him set up a match of English fighters to determine who would fight Frazier, building the momentum for the Frazier title fight. Do the same thing in Germany with 2 other European fighters. For the 3rd fight have a US promoter set up a promising no-hoper for Frazier's return.

 

Retire.

 

The best it could have gone for Frazier:

After fighting Daniels and Stander in 1972, sign up for an early 1973 fight with anyone but Foreman or Ali. Do it again in mid 1973 (with no pressure to face Ali since he's lost to Norton).

After Ali lost to Norton and barely edged him out in the rematch, a 1974 defense against Norton would have been perceived as a solid, legitimate fight against a top contender. Frazier probably would KO Norton and then he could retire. He beat Ali in 1971 and in 1974 KOed the guy who gave Ali hell. So Frazier could retire without appearing to leave any questions unanswered about Ali.

 

How good was Joe Frazier's management?

 

Even though he had a gold medal, nobody knew quite how good Foreman was ... or how much Frazier had declined after 1971.

With hindsight it's easy to say all Joe had to do was retire or avoid George Foreman but the truth is without knowing why should he? Even by 1973 there had been no real evidence at elite level to prove how effective Foreman could be because I don't think he deserved that #1 rating beating Terry Sorrel, Ted Gullick and guys like that.

Without hindsight it was always worth fighting an unproven guy sooner rather than later. Having already beat Ali everyone else looked a class below..and that included Foreman based on his then resume.

We now know that Foreman was the only guy in the then top ten who could properly expose Fraziers decline but nobody could have predicted it then. That's why George was a huge underdog. It just looked like a gimme for Frazier to keep him ticking over before an Ali rematch.

 

I think the Stander fight showed that Fraziers prowess had reduced from 1971 and that came before the Foreman fight. You watch that fight and it is apparent that Joe isn't punching until he has walked all the way in. where as before he could catch a faster taller Ali at long range. I can't decide if was eyesight, timing or coordination that he lost but a part of Fraziers game was gone. Joe had lost a range that he could fight at before and it never came back.

The beating he took winning against Ali hurt joe more than Ali did losing. The Foreman fight could not have helped Frazier much either but he was not the same fighter anyway. Foreman could draw a line on the floor and know he could reach Joe whilst he could not reach him. Target practice. Compared to the 1971 version of Frazier, Joe was a sitting duck for a puncher with longer arms.

 

Yes that's how it was. I think Frazier had the perfect career already and The Fight Of The Century was the top the hill for him. He had cleaned out his own generation of fighters and he should have retired then. Yank wanted him to retire and I think he knew Joe best.