Sonny fought his way to the end of a fight with a badly broken jaw. Came back and beat the guy next time. I'm big on fighters losing (even badly) in a first fight then knocking the crap out of them next time. Mike never did that. Joe came off the floor more than once to roar to victory. Mike...once he was dropped he was usually on his way to losing...badly. Not always with Joe. And your rating of Lennox is quite easy to agree with, though I place Holy just a bit above him (and maybe George, too).
very good question. I really don't know.. I think Tyson was more explosive and had a two fisted power more, but Frazier was more iconic and probably fought with more heart when he struggled.
Joe, the one who actually defeated the best of his competition and in the face of opposition never backed down and always got up. And better left hook for sure. The only case for Tyson is that he was the most dominant in the era of his early career until the Douglas loss.
I might pick Tyson to beat Frazier head to head . But as for legacy it’s close . While Joe’s win over Ali was better than any of Tyson’s best wins, it’s commonly overlooked that Muhammad only fought twice in four years going into that bout. It should also be noted that of Frazier’s title fight wins some of them included Ron Stander, Terry Daniels, Manuel Ramos, and Dave Zyglewic. Not even the worst of Tyson’s title victims were as bad as these men. The biggest scar against Mike here is losing to Buster Douglas. I don’t hold his defeats for McBride or Williams too heavily against him as he was very clearly shot. Same way I don’t hold It over Frazier’s head for the Floyd Cummings bout ( ruled a draw but Cummings made him look real bad. ) In any case I can’t see either of them ranking any higher than 8-10.
I would disagree. Bob Foster, Jimmy Ellis, Oscar Bonavena and Jerry Quarry were definitely of the same quality or better than the majority of the Tyson defenses.
Showstopper, I had a question. When talking about two heavyweights what does pound for pound mean as related to head to head? Thanks.
Frazier. Besides beating Ali, which is one of the greatest wins in heavyweight history, it's hard to discount the intangibles here. Frazier was a fighting man, through and through. Tyson wasn't a chump but he could be convinced to lay down his weapons significantly faster. When we talk about greatness, the will to win is a prized possession.
