Frazier-Ellis II

Interersting that Ellis fought Ali, Frazier, & Quarry but never fought Foreman.

Ellis was a decent fighter.

 

I've got a bit of old hand held camera footage of this fight and the one thing that stood out was Joe's condition or lack thereof.

He looked a bit pudgy but Ellis had nothing to hold him off with.

It was a far cry from their first fight in terms of quality but it was still an OK fight and I'd agree that it was more competitive due to Frazier slipping a fair bit from the first clash (Frazier was a beast in the first one).

I wouldn't be surprised if Joe's performance here lulled Ali and his camp into thinking Frazier had little left and gave them a false sense of security going into Manilla. If so they clearly underestimated the man.

 

Frazier's camp obviously looked upon an Ellis rematch as being an easy tune up for Ali. Jimmy had lost a runaway decision to Joe Bugner in his previous bout. Ellis was in survival mode for most of it. Only two things stand out about this fight. It was in Australia,and Bob Foster was referee.

 

Ellis was a journeyman spoiler by that point and Frazier had certainly lost his sharpest edge. He was looking to put in some work in a tune-up fight while Ellis did his best to survive the assault until Dundee called the fight off.

 

That's what I believe, Hydraulix. Jimmy is four years older than Joe, and was 35 years old by March 1975. In fact, get this: a quick check of Smoke's record indicates that Ellis may be the ONLY opponent over age 35 that Frazier ever competed against! (Machen was 34 in 1966.) After Terry Daniels, Joe only produced two knockdowns-Bugner, and JQ II. (And Bugner almost avenged his tenth round KD with a near knockdown of his own several seconds later, courtesy of a right which caught Smoke boring in, and appeared to have Frazier in very serious trouble against the ropes just as the bell rang to end the round.)

Certainly Ellis may have had improved spoiler survival skills gleaned from additional experience, but he had not defeated an opponent of substance since before his loss to Ali in 1971, and came in on a four fight winless streak.

Ellis II was strictly a keep busy workout for Joe to fill in time until Manila. If he earned his challenge of Ali, it was on the strength of his masterful performance in the Quarry rematch, not because of anything that happened in Melbourne. The Frazier of February 1970 would have crushed the Ellis of March 1975 near the outset of round two, much like he did Bob Foster.

 

the experience of ellis (at this point he had victories against patterson,bonavena,quarry,chuvalo,leotis martin..)vs a young foreman green but aggressive and hungry of victory :think

 

Foreman would have taken Jimmy out within five rounds.