Frazier vs Ibragimov

Joe vs Sultan.

I'm making this a dedicated thread so that all interested can chime in, and its no secret that this is fueled by our marvel, elroy, who believes that Frazier would be no more than cannon fodder for most of the current heavyweights, and in particular, mentioning Ibragimov as a highly skilled fighter who would beat Frazier and make him look foolish.

I'll let him speak for himself in terms of his "proof" he claims to be able to provide, so I'll start with my small contribution and personal opinion.

First of all, I'm not an Iggy expert- I've seen his fights against Austin and Wlad. I have also seen his record and opponents.

First of all, you aren't beating Frazier by throwing one punch at a time. In 24 rounds of fighting, I can count on one hand the times he threw a two-punch combination... I never saw him throw three in a row.

He's clearly looking to land the left, which is fast, but his jab is negligible, he has no hook, and uses nothing else other than the left, which is apparently his most trusted punch.

For those who accuse Frazier of being one-handed, Iggy is another example of a guy who you could accuse of being so. And I'll add that Frazier's hook is much better than Iggy's left.

To beat Frazier, you'll need to throw in combination or punch after punch, which is partly what Foreman did to beat him down and Ali as well.

Frazier was too good at timing single punches coming in and too good at countering for Iggy here, as Iggy has no real movement- he does very well when going forward, but doesn't counter well (if at all) and doesn't box going backwards or move effectively.

Not only do you need volume punching, in combinations, to beat Frazier, but you need pressure. You need to be strong enough and assertive enough to back him up and keep his momentum going that way.

Again, Ibragimov falls short of those requirements as well. He does infrequently (why so rarely, I can't imagine because it works for him) assert himself and punch moving forward, but again, only in bursts, and only 2, 3, 4 times per fight.

That simply won't cut it against Frazier.

Sultan doesn't hit any harder than any of the punchers Frazier met such as Bonavena, so how will he win? Outboxing Frazier with his feet firmly in concrete? Blasting him out with his predictable left hand?

How does this go down?

 

And a word about Frazier's offense and how it plays against Ibragimov: I don't see how Iggy will stop the hooks and body work from landing. Iggy throws body shots when he can fit them in, but here, Frazier obliges him on the inside, where Frazier beats him to the punch because of his superior head movement, timing on counters, and punch variety on those counters.

Iggy throws a couple shots on the inside wildly and gets out. Frazier would not.

Lets not overlook Frazier's superiority in defense and presumably ability to land because of the lack of movement in general from Sultan. His southpaw stance and little lean with his hands way down won't provide much of a fortress of protection from Frazier.

 

Haha