Could Marvis Frazier have realistically been able to win a heavyweight title?

Never could figure out how Marvis beat Bonecrusher. He seemed made for him

 

No, he wasn't that good.

 

Of course, Marvis could've won a heavyweight belt.

Marvis beat Tubbs and Witherspoon as amateurs and he beat Bonecrusher Smith as a pro.

The only people Marvis lost to were Holmes and Tyson. Just don't fight them. Go after the WBA and WBC belts in 1984 or 1985. He did just fine against everyone else.

Marvis went 56-2 as an amateur, only losing to Tubbs (who he also beat) and James Broad (who he beat as a pro). And he went 19-2 as a pro, only losing to Holmes and Tyson.

He finished with a 75-4 combined amateur/pro record. And he avenged two of the four losses.

You could've slotted Marvis in there in place of Thomas, Spoon, Page, Tubbs, Smith, Berbick ... and not missed a beat. Honestly, none of them were really any better. Marvis got in the ring with many of them at one time or another and beat them.

Marvis (coming off wins over Tillis and Ribalta) beats Bonecrusher in February 1986. Berbick (coming off wins over Mike Perkins and Mitch Green) decisions Thomas in March 1986.

Instead of either fighting Tyson that year, they look to each other and Berbick defends his WBC belt against the 16-1 Marvis Frazier in 1986.

The fight's a tossup.

 

Marvis may well have done better had Papa Joe let him fight with his natural style and not tried to turn him into a clone of himself.

 

He's no worse than Bruno or Seldon.

 

He outboxed Bonecrusher on that network fight, so if he had Bonecrusher as Bonecrusher became champ in Dec 1986, he might have won the title. But his chances were the right opponent at the right time.. .. Tua on the other hand should have been a champion and was not...

 

Tua never was the best heavyweight on the planet.

 

Quarry and Patterson proved the world needed a Cruiserweight division DECADES before Marvis arrived, and still he showed up too early for that division to have any serious meaning. He would have been a tremendous Cruiserweight champ.

At Heavyweight he had a high probability of winning the belt... eventually... over an aged Holmes. Just like Spinks did, in reality.

But his father ruined it for him. Joe absolutely ruined Marvis. He wanted Marvis, a gifted pure-boxer, to be a swarmer like him, and rushed his boy into fights he obviously wasn't ready for. Horrible cornerman and horrible match-maker.

If Joe hadn;t gotten involved Marvis would have been an ATG, and probably a champion.

 

He had the ability to do exactly what Spinks did, too.

 

Tua demolished guys who were champs, and one of them Ruiz was champion for a long time. I am not saying Ruiz was a great champion, but he was consistent and Tua knocked him and Moorer out quickly.

 

This. Had Marvis been trained differently he could have been very successful.
He was a top amateur and I think at one time Benton was teaching him.
Trying fight in his dads style screwed him.

 

Not as long as there was a Mike Tyson or a Tim Witherspoon in the picture.

 

I'm well aware of what Tua did. I wouldn't say he was entitled to be a champ because he never even was top 2 in the divison from what I remember. If you think he had it rough, look at what Ruddock and Povetkin had to deal with. He couldve been an alphabet guy, but so could have Marvis.

 

i dont think Marvis could even beat Bert Cooper

 

I'll refer you to the win column of Bert Cooper. His best win is Orlin Norris and that's by a distance.