Going to be a bit of a weird one, because two of Foreman's best wins are Frazier, but Frazier has the best possible #1 win in Ali. Foreman narrowly edged Holmes in a previous comparison of top ten wins... https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/foreman-vs-holmes-top-ten-wins.729704/ I will go with Joe by the thinnest of hairs. He has the best win on top, and though George gets the next three spots, Foreman's resume peters out hard starting with a washed-up Cooney. Frazier by a hair due to context. Who takes it for you?! Foreman's consensus top ten wins Joe Frazier 1-12 Ken Norton-12 Michael Moorer-12 Ron Lyle-12 George Chavulo-12 Joe Frazier II-10 Gerry Cooney-9 Bert Cooper-9 Alex Stewart-6 Dwight Qawi-5/Gregorio Peralta 1- 5 Frazier's consensus top ten wins: Muhammed Ali 6 Jimmy Ellis 1 6 Jerry Quarry 1 6 Oscar Bonavena 2 6 Jerry Quarry 2 6 Oscar Bonavena 1 6 George Chuvalo 6 Joe Bugner 6 Buster Mathis 6 Eddie Machen 4
Foreman. After Ali Fraziers wins are all lower top 10 like Bugner, Ellis, Quarry and Bonavena. While Foremans got Frazier x2,Norton, Lyle and Moorer. Foremans doesn't have as many lower top 10 wins but hes got enough to fill out a top 10. Fraziers fought 22 HW contenders with 18 wins and Foremans fought 18 with 14 wins and this doesn't count 3 of your top 10 in Qawi, Peralta and Stewart. Fraziers got more depth but its not a big difference in a top 10 because Fraziers got 9 spots to fill after Ali while Foremans got 5 to fill after Frazierx2,Norton,Lyle and Moorer. Fraziers depth would only flip it in a top 15. Frazier not fighting Jimmy Young, Norton and Lyle really makes the Cooney win more valuable in this comparison IMO even if they were past their best. Wepner along with Frazier are the only 2 to knock down Ali and the biggest KO victim of both Liston and Foreman. For me them and Chuvalo are the clear top 8 for Foreman.
Frazier more quality overall despite the repeat contenders but Foreman gets points for the devastating top victories he had. A Shavers, Lyle, or even Patterson fight for Frazier I would’ve liked to see.
Frazier for me quite clearly Foreman’s resume is very top heavy you have stand out wins over Moorer, Frazier, Norton, Lyle, which is very good then after that it becomes quite shallow honestly. I prefer the depth of Frazier's resume all of his top 10 wins are very notable where as Foreman only has like 4 or 5 very notable wins.
This is how I see it: Frazier has the most valuable HW win of the 20th century. Foreman beat Frazier twice. Foreman has Norton. They can be equal, or Foreman is a shade ahead. Frazier can't be ahead of Foreman.
I think it's about even. Frazier probably had just a bit on George in quality but the quantity Foreman had was way over Joe's 37 fights what may put Foreman over is the big win at age 45 and the fact he beat Frazier twice, though Frazier has the Ali win and Foreman lost to Ali, it's very close.
Hard to say but I think Frazier has the better overall wins especially since he beat Ali and a lot of the best contenders of the era with the exception of Norton, Foreman and Lyle, but Foreman would probably be ranked higher because of his dominant wins over Frazier twice.
I chose Foreman. The victory over Ali works greatly in Frazier's favor, and his top 10 is deeper, but Foreman has a better top 4: Frazier, Norton, Lyle, Moorer, and on top of that, he defeated Frazier twice. Maybe if Frazier had fought Lyle and Norton (likely wins), I could say that his top 10 is better, but it still needs to be considered that he lost to George twice.
Joe Frazier has the win over Muhammad Ali, but he also has 2 losses against him (which I believe softens that one win somewhat, but this is about wins, not losses, I know). Joe's next best win was James Ellis. After those two he had Quarry twice, Bonavena twice, Chuvalo, Bugner, Mathis, and Machen. George Foreman has 2 wins over Joe Frazier, one over Ken Norton, and one over Michael Moorer. After those four, he had Lyle, Chuvalo, Cooney, Cooper, Stewart, and Qawi. I have to go with George Foreman as having the better wins.
Frazier may have the best win amongst them in his win over Ali. And the wins over Quarry x 2, Ellis, Bonavena and Bugner are quality. But Foreman has the Frazier win. And he has the Norton win who is generally regarded as a top 30 all time heavyweight. And he beat Lyle who is up there with the likes of Bonavena and Bugner. And he beat Moorer who is probably a top 50 all time heavyweight. Norton, Moorer and Lyle combined > Quarry, Bonavena, Ellis and Bugner.
