Prime Joe Frazier vs. Prime Larry Holmes.

I feel confident in picking the guy that was champion for goddamn near forever, it felt.

 

Frazier via UD. Holmes wins the early rounds but still gets tagged quite bit (similar to Ali in FOTC) as he was fairly stationary, and only moved sparingly. He'll be forced to go toe-to-toe with Frazier & he definitely can't win that way. I see a KD for Frazier in the latter rounds (again similar to Ali in FOTC) with Holmes making to the final bell, giving Frazier a tough fight - but coming up empty in the end.

 

Smokin' Joe overhauls an early Holmes lead and pounds out a UD over Larry. Even though I rate Larry higher than Joe on an all time great heavy list I feel that the Frazier of 1971 beats Holmes.

 

Joe Frazier broke Larry Holme's rib in sparring so that would heavily influence me favouring Frazier here. We know how Mike Tyson dealt with Holmes but Frazier is a different boxer entirely I think Frazier just wears him down and concludes with a knockout like he did with Jimmy Ellis and Buster Mathis. Holmes is in my top 5 heavyweights but I don't seeing him beating Frazier.

My top 5

Jack Johnson
Joe Louis
Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali
Larry Holmes
Lennox Lewis

Just because Frazier isn't in my top 5 doesn't mean he can't beat Holmes it doesn't work like that!

 

Oh Larry, Larry, Larry…please don’t take this fight. I’m begging you.

Seriously though, Holmes with that never say die mentality, ATG jab and great recuperative powers won’t bow out easily, and Frazier with his front foot pressure, constant movement, slipping those jabs, won’t let up easily. Anybody with a similar style and close in ability to, but less durable than, Larry would possibly fold by the 11-13th round in a 15 round contest. But I just can’t see this happening to Holmes…he’ll box on, staying as competitive as he can right to the end. Beaten but not bowed. Defeated but not done.

Unanimous decision in favour of Joe, but one of those close-ish ones like 8-1-6 or 9-6…or even
8-7 if Larry built up an early lead.

 

Seeing how dead tired he was at the 15 round mark against a past it Norton, no way he makes it that far against Frazier. He's gonna need to expend A LOT more energy to keep Frazier off of him, energy he's never necessarily proven he has (unlike Ali) and is going to be depleted by Frazier's relentless bodywork.

 

I'd bet my house on FotC Frazier.

 

Great observations from you and so many other guys in this thread.Like you I rate Holmes extremely highly,
he's no 3 in my heavyweight ATG list,whereas Smokin'Joe is around no 10.
Smokin' Joe was the ultimate '' kill or be killed '' fighter.An opponent had to nail Frazier with nuclear punching
power to beat him ( unless you were called Muhammad Ali ).Larry Holmes,for all his greatness didn't possess
that George Foreman type of punching power.
Joe either to get a UD or a late stoppage in a classic FOTY.

 

Joe in a one- or two-point decision after a war. Both of 'em will need a while to recover. I do think some people are selling prime Larry Holmes ... and we're talking "prime" ... a bit short. I actually have Holmes higher on my ATG list than Joe but this is not an optimal matchup for Larry.

 

All the good points have been made.....
I do favor Frazier over Holmes for reasons
all ready written.

 

You mean the guy who never unified, went life and death with his mediocre opponents every other fight, and avoided his best challengers?

 

Also fair comments

 

Was not sure who I would go with on this one, your post , your excellent breakdown of the encounter, has swayed me to a Frazier win, so nice when fellow poster guides and enlightens me, makes a change from the " A demolishes B " scripts, where no analysis or thought has gone into the answer, so thanks Swag.
stay safe guys.

 

Appreciate it Mike! I've always found those "X beats Y" posts very lazy and vague so I try to analyze the matchup, and put forth the reasoning for my picks whenever I can.