I think Lyle could poss take this one. Joe comes in takin the fight lightly, Ron's ready for a scrap. I don't see it being a Foreman blow out, but Lyle keeps connecting, hurting Joe and Frazier can't seem to get himself moving, so he's coming after his man but taking a lot of shots. Imo the ko would come suddenly around the 4 th when big Ron strikes and catches him coming in. We'd have Joe bouncing up and Lyle acting like a mad man trying to take his head off. There in, Joe's getting dropped to frequently and the ref has to stop it.
On Feb 9 1973, Ron Lyle lost a unanimous verdict to Jerry Quarry, in Madison Square Garden. I was a good lesson for him as he reeled victories over the likes of Oscar Bonavena and a knockout of Earnie Shavers. He was stopped by Ali on May 16 1975, in round 11. He had that knockdown drag out fight with George Foreman, on Jan 24 1976, only to be stopped in round 5. Fighting the Joe Frazier from the night of Jan 22 1973, when he lost his title to George Foreman, by TKO 2, would be an interesting bout. Lyle would be hungry to make a name for himself, like a gunfighter in a western. He would sense that Joe would take him lightly. Also knowing that Frazier was not the same as he was in The Fight Of The Century, on March 8 1971, against a post exile Muhammad Ali. Ron looks at Joe's recent competition, Terry Daniels and Ron Stander, and is not impressed. Frazier comes in blazing in round 1, only to be staggered by a crushing right hand by Lyle. Ron knocks Frazier down in round 2, then has him helpless, forcing Yank Durham to ask the referee to stop the bout, for Smokin Joe's safety.
The Joe who won the title right up to FOTC mercilessly hammers Lyle into the ground, same way he'd wear down Foreman in that era imo. KO in 7. Post-FOTC Frazier does the Kingston jack-in-the-box a few times and gets stopped by Lyle in the third round.
Frazier is the better fighter, Lyle might drop Joe , but he can't keep him down . Frazier stops him late
I agree, Lyle had the power and weird luck to knock him down. But the Frazier from Mathis to FOTC chops Lyle down in an ugly, progressive way. The early rounds would feature Lyle landing eye-watering blows but he could only take so much of that hook. Post-FOTC Frazier against Lyle...I give it to Lyle via ko 4.
If we are talking the Jamaica version of Joe... Joe takes the Karaoke contest. Ron takes the boxing match.
An out of shape past it Frazier gets stopped by a prime Big George yet HE GETS UP FROM EVERY KNOCKDOWN and Bonavena drops Joe when hes cold and again Joe gets up and takes the W yet SO many people on here have him with a glass jaw. AYFK me??? We all saw the shots he took from Foreman. Including an uppercut that lifted him off his feet and a rt hand behind the head and HE GOT UP every F#####g time but he has glass in his jaw. Yeah ok..WTF
I can't see even the best version of Lyle beating Frazier. As big and strong as Ron was, he was just one rung below the ladder that Joe was standing on. Ron would put up a good scrap, pressuring Joe early, but Frazier eventually wears a tired Lyle down stopping him late in the fight.
I see it as Lyle gets some heavy shots in and might just knock Joe down. From there Joe warms up (lol) and starts landing the hook. Joe in his prime was just like a lumberjack imo. Lyle was a big, muscular man. But he'd get progressively chopped down. By the ninth he's a staggering mess as Joe just will NOT let up on the hook. Ref stops it.
