I've always favored Tyson in this matchup as Joe's not a fast starter . But if the bell rings for round 5 and Joe's still there Tyson is gettin an azz whoppin.
Throw in Frazier where hes smokin' in round 1 and this gets REALLL in Fraziers favor, but we cannot edit a fighters abilities, and the truth is Frazier is a slow starter. Tyson probably rounds 1-3
Frazier by 11th round stoppage. It would be a helluva fight till round 8, when Frazier starts to fully take over.
Pretty much this if Frazier fought early part of the fight, like he did in the 2nd part of a fight. This would be a war and harder to pick. But Frazier was a slow starter like you said, he was dropped early twice vs Bonavena. Had a slow start vs Ali in their 1st fight, was rocked vs Ali early in their 2nd fight, slow start vs Quarry in their 1st fight, and of course blown away early by Foreman. All this against probably one of the fastest starters in Heavyweight history, who has 22 1st round knockouts. doesn't bode well for Frazier i have Tyson winning early aswell.
Joe Frazier in his prime tears before The Fight Of The Century on March 8 1971 was like a runaway locomotive stuck in forward gear, he had amazing will and stamina in that fight, he fought with a purpose. But there is one thing that makes me hesitate, Joe Frazier was vulnerable to right hands, against Oscar Bonavena on Sept 21 1966, Joe tasted the canvas twice in one round, went on to win a highly controversial split decision. Then the title loss to George Foreman on Jan 22 1973, when George lifted Frazier off the canvas, even sent him skating. Mike Tyson does have a more potent right hand than Bonavena, can Joe take it as Mike also keeps coming at him? Can Joe take Mike into deep waters without tasting the canvas? A lot of questions have to be answered first before we have a hypothetical winner of this fantasy fight. But something tells me that Mike lands his right hand that deposits Joe onto the canvas, courage over common sense has Frazier arising, only to be sent again to the canvas, his trainer Yank Durham has to rescue a severely shaken Frazier by tossing in the towel ending matters. Joe had a reason to be psychologically up for Muhammad Ali due to all the berating by Ali, he would not have any from Tyson as his fists would have spoken.
Frazier wasn't that much of a slow starter... We have the ultimate authority to prove this. It's called film. Secondly to answer the OP, Watching the Mathis fight with Tyson was alarming, Tyson just didn't know what to do with somebody on the inside if they wanted to fight there, he got him out of there but it was odd to see. About Frazier, I think he can make Mike miss and make it look competitive for a bit till Tyson "get's" it, Joe just hasn't got the fire power, durability or the versatility to do much here and get's stopped early-ish. This content is protected Frazier being a "slow" starter This content is protected 1995 Tyson's infighting, not prime but did we really ever see someone actually fight this chest on chest with Mike besides here?
Joe only seemed to be a slow starter against elite opposition ala Ali or bad matchups like Bonavena, remember not many of his fights went past 5 rounds prior to FOTC.
"My strategy was pressure. Joe was a lot shorter than Muhammad Ali, so I had developed Joe into a bobbing and weaving fighter. In fact, I did that after the Oscar Bonavena fight in which he got knocked down a couple times being a standup fighter and walking in. So I developed a bobbing and weaving style for Frazier, and we used it to great effect against Muhammad Ali." — THE EDDIE FUTCH INTERVIEW: A Conversation with Boxing Legend and Trainer of Champions Leaving it here since Bonavena fight is going to be used against Frazier a lot — unjustly I might add. Frazier-Bonavena I Joe was a different fighter.
I've never seen Mike lose a fight where his opponent came from behind to stop him. If you're beating Tyson, its because you figured him out early and you established yourself from round 1 not round 5, 6, 7 or 8. Tyson KO4
Well technically both McBride and Williams came from behind to stop him. Douglas was heading towards a majority draw.
I can’t envision how a smaller, slower, and less powerful fighter with a stylistic disadvantage beats a peak Tyson.
Having the steeliest set of balls in heavyweight history won't matter against Mike Tyson at his peak. Tyson is bigger, faster, stronger and overall better than Frazier.
