44 years ago today: Joseph William "Smokin' Joe" Frazier vs. Floyd "Jumbo" Cummings

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by IntentionalButt, Dec 3, 2025 at 8:32 PM.


  1. IntentionalButt

    IntentionalButt Guy wants to name his çock 'macho' that's ok by me

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    5½ years after crushing defeat in the Foreman rematch, Joe Frazier returned to extend his professional career into a third decade. Let's just say, while he did earn the privilege of not retiring off a loss, his eighties campaign...didn't exactly have legs. And was fat. And slow.

    With a measly 6.5k attendant live gate (a scant 18% of his career peak, in Foreman I, and no more than a fifth of any installment of the Ali trilogy) showing that his decline in drawing power was as steep as his terminal-velocity nosedive in skill & fitness, the sport's most famous heavyweight practitioner of both the bob & weave and the left hook since Patterson - and probably remaining the greatest until Tyson, if not the present - labored to a draw with the unremarkable Jumbo Cummings.

    Cummings, besides Frazier, fought a total of 21 opponents - and of the maximum of 6 that you might've heard of, he lost to all. Frank Bruno and Tim Witherspoon? No shame; they both went on to hold world titles. Renaldo Snipes and Mitch Green? At least they were fringe contenders. Jeff Sims, though? Yeah, not great. Cummings even lost to a lesser Frazier - Laughin' Larry (of Seattle, not Philly - no relation) - less than a year after holding old Joe to a tie.

    To his credit, Frazier took heed of the universe's hint and never laced up again. Of his five blemishes (the others being a pair of losses to all time greats George Foreman and Muhammad Ali) this is by far the most embarrassing - and for Cummings, it's his crowning achievement without a doubt. Which makes it odd that -broke and mired in legal trouble, he tried suing ESPN for rebroadcasting it almost two decades ago. "Oh no! Don't show the world that I fought a top fifteen HW of all time and he didn't beat me. What a brutish intrusion on my privacy, good heavens! :gey:"
     
  2. BCS8

    BCS8 VIP Member

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    Cummings really cemented his position as an ATG with this fight.
     
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  3. IntentionalButt

    IntentionalButt Guy wants to name his çock 'macho' that's ok by me

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    :sisi1

    I can't think what in the modern day even compares with this. I wanted at first to say maybe Horn upsetting Pacquiao but honestly...Horn >>>>>>> Cummings p4p, and that Manny wasn't nearly as compromised as this Joe.
     
  4. Fergy

    Fergy Walking Dead Full Member

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    Sad day for boxing, but at least Joe wasn't stopped in his last fight.
    Same as Ali, George and Larry.
     
  5. nyterpfan

    nyterpfan Active Member Full Member

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    I thought that Frazier-Cummings wound up a draw--not a loss. (Agreed it was painful to watch--thankfully Joe hung em' up for good afterwards.)
     
  6. Greg Price99

    Greg Price99 Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Pacquiao vs Barios is a better example, albeit even Barios is better P4P than Cummings was.