Would Jimmy Young have the success against Frazier that he had against the other greats he fought?

Getting Joe ready for Ali.

 

this is CRAZY!

How is one handed frazier going to grind down Jimmy when the much larger, more powerful & versatile and two handed Foreman, failed???

 

Finally, someone with some SENSE!

 

I think Jimmy is a cockroach here and makes it no matter how much Frazier turns up the heat. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Young hurt Joe either. I saw a clip not long ago of a shot Machen scoring a would be knock down of Frazier.

 

Jimmy Young had success in his April 1976 encounter with champion Muhammad Ali. The decision was questionable as Ali was pudgy and sluggish, not even the champion from 1964-1967. In March 1977, Young thoroughly defeated George Foreman by unanimous decision, decking Foreman in the last round to cement the victory. In November of that year, Jimmy lost a very close split decision to Ken Norton in a WBC eliminator in Las Vegas, Nevada. That fight made Norton the WBC champion when champion Leon Spinks refused to accept a challenge by Ken. Against a Joe Frazier who comes at you like a train on a mission, Joe would come straight in, bobbing and weaving connecting to the head and body with his powerful left hooks. As in The Fight Of The Century on March 8 1971 against challenger Muhammad Ali, Joe put immense pressure on Ali throughout the fast paced 15 round title bout, forcing Ali to the ropes very often, punishing him to the body in his hard earned victory. Young though quick and clever is not as fast as Ali, but he is cagey. I see Joe taking Jimmy out by round 10, Frazier just keeps Smoking.

 

Frazier's head movement (one of the best head movements ever in the heavyweight division) would be a big obstacle for Jimmy Young to win by points.
On the other hand, Frazier's pressure would be a big obstacle for Jimmy Young to endure the fight to the end.
Jimmy Young is stylistically a greater danger to Foreman than Frazier.
Jimmy Young would fall between the 12th and 15th rounds at the latest.

 

Did anyone but Shavers ever knock Jimmy Young down? I don’t see Joe doing it.

Earnie stopped him once when he was vastly more experienced (45th fight vs. Young’s 11th) than Young and won a split verdict in a rematch (seven fights later for Jimmy, so still a relative notice). Ron Lyle didn’t do it. Ken Norton didn’t do it. George Foreman didn’t do it.

Jimmy’s durable and wily. Frazier has more problems here than some think. And Norton went to the body well and often vs. Young and still squeaked by (I thought Young clearly deserved the decision).

But Joe is more active to the body and more relentless than a pit bull. So I’m going to go with Frazier outhustling Young for a decision, maybe 9-6 in rounds — but there’s going to be some debatable ones in there and an argument that Young was had by the judges again. I’m going to say it ends up a majority decision with one judge giving Jimmy’s defensive skill and generally peskiness more of the benefit of the doubt.

 

You’ll find my take above, but I want to address one thing — the Frazier of Ali is a different animal than I think we get vs. any other opponent. Joe was seeing red. He freaking hated Ali, and also knew beating Ali would make his bones, so to speak, for eternity.

I can’t see the smoke coming out of Joe’s ears for Jimmy. He’d be dogged and determined and iron-willed, but he wouldn’t be savage.

 

My question would be, is Jimmy Young like Jimmy Ellis style wise? We all saw what Smoking Joe Frazier did to Ellis, Angelo Dundee had to rescue Jimmy, I do not think he had any animosity towards Ellis, only that Jimmy had the WBA crown. Also Ellis hits harder than Young.

 

I'd actually say Jimmy Ellis was more like Muhammad Ali than Jimmy Young, when I watched Ellis/Quarry a few months ago. There was quite a few similarities between the two especially with the movement.

 

There are similarities and differences of course.

Ellis is of course a middleweight who became a small heavyweight. Young was a true heavyweight (not a giant like we have today but he dang sure didn’t spent a significant portion of his career at middleweight.

That’s not to say Joe beat an overblown middleweight in Ellis. The Jimmy from Louisville more than proved his mettle at heavyweight and was, somehow, a better heavyweight than he was a middle. In fact he’s one of my favorite fighters because I find his career arc fascinating. I think this is a better win for Joe than Buster.

But no I never really thought of Jimmy Ellis as a defense-minded guy like Young is. Ellis was much more offense-minded and aggressive, sometimes for the better and occasionally to his detriment.

 

Sorry, completely different styles, Frazier grinds Young up. Young will look good early countering Joe but Young cannot make Frazier take a backward step. Frazier starts grinning around the 5th round and starts to smoke and Jimmy while covering and countering is swamped by the volume. If he makes the distance Young is battered at the end and loses a UD.

 

-Frazier wasn't 1 handed.

-styles make fights. Frazier's pressure and close range phone booth smothering tactics woudktn give Young time to think and be slick. Pressure and volume will usually give a technical guy nightmares, especially one who lacks punching power like Young. Foreman fought at mid range sand threw more obvious looping bombs one punch at a time.

-that wasn't a prime Foreman , he had changed styles, trainers, fought in a hot outdoor arena, and doubted himself. Despite all that, Foreman got close to taking Young out but blew his chances when he gassed out.

 

Good post.

 

What did Buster Mathis cry to the referee during his title challenge against 5 state champion Joe Frazier on March 4 1968?, Make Him Step Back !