Would the smaller sized heavyweight of the 60s and 70s be fighting at HW today?

I'd imagine he'd be a small heavyweight whose incredible bravery fuels him as he attempts to conquer a division of giants. Frazier fighting at CW is not impossible though.

 

I will answer this question with a question. How many 5'11 205 pound heavyweights have been successful since the 70's? With that said, Joe Frazier is a truly great fighter that I have all of the respect in the world for. I'm just going to admire him for what he was in his era.

 

Usyk's success has shown that it is not impossible for a "small" heavyweight to be successful. Before the Joshua fights, there were plenty of people saying that he was too small for Joshua. Now that Usyk has won, they are attributing it to him being "special" and a southpaw. Well, Ali and Holmes were special too even if they weren't southpaws. IMO they were both faster than Usyk (especially Ali), were even more durable (Especially vs bodyshots), and IMO had more power too. No reason why they wouldn't dominate today.

Now do i think that guys like Quarry, Ellis and Patterson would be heavyweights today? No. I think they would be cruiserweights.

Do i thin Frazier would initially campaign at cruiser and then move up to heavy? Yes.

Do i think Ali and Holmes and Foreman would be cruisers? No. Neither would Norton, Lyle etc.

 

Uysk is 6'3 and Frazier was 5'11. That is a pretty significant difference not to mention Uysk is a pure boxer where Fraizer was a prototypical swarmer. As great as Frazier was and make no mistake, he absolutely was great. He would be at a ridiculous size disadvantage against guys like Joshua and Fury. It's one thing for guys like Ali, Holmes and Uysk outboxing larger fighters but for a pressure guy to beat down a man that has 40 plus pounds on him is another story.

 

There s being more arguments about this than Tyson v Ali.
I think personally there is a cut off point where heavyweight s from a certain time, would be just too small.
Even the guys from the 80 s, who looked massive to me, probably look small in comparison to today s giants.
Good question tho.

 

Frazier could always bulk up. That's not even a question, he certainly had the frame to put on an additional 15-20 lbs of muscle with modern training methods and dieting while still maintaining his high work rate.

The question is if his style could work against modern guys and I'm not sure it would because the pace and referees are completely different. Guys usually fight in short spurts and there are frequent clinches. Even the taller and naturally larger Povetkin and Chisora have a hard time with the skilled superheavies. It's incredibly difficult to fight on the inside or volume punch when the opponent is half a foot taller and the ref let's them lean on you or tie you up every 30 seconds. Oftentimes body shots are considered low blows or borderline and that is how Frazier set up 70% of his offense. Honestly, it wouldn't even be worth it to fight at modern heavy unless it was for a big payday and/or a favorable matchup with a strict ref. He'd be better off at cruiserweight. The same would apply to smaller 60's-70's heavies such as Patterson, Oscar, Chuvalo, Ellis, Quarry, etc. Taller heavies like Ali, Foreman, Norton, Terrel, Bugner, etc would have a relatively easy time adjusting to modern rules since they were already fairly large men despite not touching weights and carried 215-225 lbs without being fat or overly muscular.

 

I think he’d be better suited at cruiser unless he could comfortably and effectively bulk up to about 230. Problem there is he might lose a lot of His speed, mobility and work rate which is what made him great in the first place

 

Geez what's next, at 5 "11 would Mike Tyson be a cruiser?

 

Good post.

Agreed about refereeing is poor and allows large men too big an advantge. In addition, they wear their shorts too high making it difficult to hit them cleanly with body punches as you stated.

Frazier has another problem, which is lack of a big right hand. A lot of people would argue that since his left hook was great, he didn't need a great right. I disagree. Two handed punchers are inherently more dangerous. One of the reasons why Tyson could land his left as well as he did is because guys also feared his right. Frazier being primarily a one hand threat does limit what he can do against modern big men to some degree.

I do think Frazier could beat a guy like Joshua who has a fragile chin. But Frazier would struggle vs guys like Joyce and Fury due to their size, durability, and the way the fights are refereed. I would not count him out against such big guys though. On the other hand, i think Joe is a nightmare match up for Usyk.

I think Frazier would probably campaign at cruiserweight and move up to heavy eventually, especially when he got a HW match up that favoured him.

 

Frazier was a not that lean 205. Tyson was a ridiculously ripped 220 against McNeely. He was 235 against Lewis and was more at Frazier's 205lb level of bodyfat there. While Tyson is short, he's absolutely a natural HW under any rules. He's also got the power and durability to hang even in today's division

That said, with day before weigh in, a young Tyson could have made cruiser.

 

NO!

Damn Near Everybody does the same as everbody else does within the confines & status quo in whatever the work or play might be. People Operate in exactly such mandated Rules, Guidlines or Protocol.

In otherword with 'most' fighters fighting DOWN in weight from their natural weight, with 3 - 4 Months to Cut Weight, well the answer is NO!

Most of yesteryears 'smaller' Heavies would be S-MW, L-HW or Cruiser.

 

It's Prize Fighting. In modern times, the ones who could weigh in above 200 pounds, and still be in good shape, would be Heavyweights, IMHO. And that includes all decades really. Heavyweights get paid more than Cruiserweights and Light Heavyweights.

 

Usyk and Joshua are closer in size than Frazier and Usyk

 

cruiser weight smoking joe would be fun to see,bulking to 220/230 would probably affect his speed,I don't know how well that would go out