FOTC Frazier VS. 1967 Ali

Nice to see you again, you good man, I always choose Ali over Frazier...

 

Frazier

 

Still Frazier. Close decision

 

Ali. By dec,or late tko.

 

Close fight still but Ali for me.
Maybe decision or late ko

 

Smokin Joe

 

Hi Guys.
For me the Ali of 67 was damn near as perfect a HW as you could get, he had filled out from 64 was looking more solid and stronger, also he was sitting down on his punches more, I would see Ali being too quick and slick for even a FOTC Frazier, a points win or even a late stoppage ( 15 rounder ) due to Joe's face swelling up and eyes closing, don't envisage Ali being marked up at all.
stay safe guys, chat soon.
Mike.

 

You would have had to kill Joe Frazier on the night of March 8, 1971 to beat him. He was NOT going to lose that fight. Joe was at his peak that night. Ali never "killed" anyone during his career...FOTC Frazier would have been a big problem for Ali...no matter what year. Frazier wins over 1967 Ali.

 

Wouldn't be enough, imo.

 

I'm a bit confused by some of these posts TBH.

An Ali that was still very good in 1971 but not quite the peak level he was in the late 60s gave an absolute peak 100 percent Frazier a close fight.

There's no reason to think a faster more sharper version of Ali in the late 60s wouldn't do better.

Ali in the rematch vs Frazier did win by not really engaging with Frazier and just by simply outboxing him and Ali almost stopped Frazier in one of the early rounds.

Yes that wasn't a peak Frazier but still stylistically Ali showed it was possible.

I'll go with Ali by decision.

 

See it the same.

 

f Ali had fought the 1971 Frazier in 1967, the whole dynamic shifts. You’re basically putting the last great version of Frazier in with the absolute best physical version of Ali.

People forget how much Ali’s weight and style fluctuated in the 60s. He fought Cooper at 201, Chuvalo at 214.5, Folley at 211. He was young, still figuring out what his best fighting weight and approach really were. And when he got off his toes in that era, it wasn’t because his legs were gone — it was because he chose to sit down and fight differently. He still had the ability to get in and out at will, and nobody matched his leg speed.

The Ali who fought Bonavena and Frazier was not that guy. His legs, stamina, and recovery simply weren’t the same. He got hit more in those two fights than in the rest of his pre-exile career combined, and that’s because he couldn’t maintain the movement he once had. Super Fight I was the most courageous outing of his career, but the physical decline was obvious.

Frazier in 1971 was the tail end of his prime — sharp, aggressive, and absolutely relentless. That version was a handful for anyone in history.

In a 1967 matchup, though, Ali has every physical advantage he didn’t have in 1971. Peak legs, peak reflexes, peak endurance. Frazier would be the older and possibly stronger man at that stage, but he’d be dealing with an Ali who could keep the angles, control the geography of the ring, and not fade late.

I lean toward Ali by decision in ’67. But Frazier’s engine in 1971 was so fierce that you can’t rule out him forcing the kind of pace that puts anyone in trouble. It’s one of those matchups where both outcomes are reasonable depending on how you see the fight unfolding.