what still amazes me, is that between the FOTC in March '71 and the Thrilla in Manila in Oct '75, Ali fought a total of 18 fights. Frazier, on the other hand only managed 7! Ali often gets criticised for fighting bums in his second reign - at least he kept himself busy! what was the reasons behind Frazier's not fighting regularly? lack of passion? injuries? being very selective in choosing the right opponent?
Frazier took far more punishment than Ali ever did , fought a far more punishing style and was blind in one eye .. Many of the bouts in Ali's second reign were near disgraceful , especially considering how long he waiting to regain his title ..
i don't think that Frazier had much left, and that he and his people knew it, so they were looking for the best money, not to stay active.
Any of his challengers as bad as Ziggy or Daniels? Ali defended against lesser challengers in between taking on the top men . After beating Foreman, Ali had in descending order. Wepner Lyle Bugner Frazier Coopman Young Dunn Norton Evangelista Shavers. Thats 10 defences in 2 years, in 6 different countries. I don't see anything disgraceful about that. Especially as Ali was into his mid 30's, and past prime. Frazier was fighting unranked men like Ziggy ,[ Frazier was 23,]Daniels ,[Frazier was 27,] and Stander,[ Frazier was 28!]
You've the same opinion as me. Some people seem to be of the opinion that Ali was the only fighter to ever have had some softee fights in between his big ones.
Frazier was at his peak on March 8, 1971...when he beat Ali in the FOTC...Joe left everything he had in the ring that night in NYC...he was never the same again...
Take a look at his lack of fights leading up to the FOTC while you're at it. Joe's last really active year was 1967. Training was a grueling process for his body, so he had to really cut down on his competitive activity once he had to prepare for the championship distance, regardless of how long the actual bouts lasted. He had three title matches in 1968 only by squeezing Bonavena II in during December. 27 contested rounds of action between Mathis, Ramos and Bonavena that year would be the most he'd engage in for any calendar year from that point onward. Passing up the WBA elimination tournament was sensible. He was better off skipping that gauntlet of who-knows-what in favor of a direct beeline for his amateur nemesis. And he was never inactive for 17 months like Ellis after Patterson. Based on his two bouts in 1969, I don't think his busted ankle cost us a third Frazier outing between Ellis I and Bob Foster in 1970. Certainly it screwed up Joe's mobility, and he had to condition himself more for BF afterwards, but I suspect his activity level was now permanently at a two fight per year pace. Marciano's made two defenses in 1953, 1954 and 1955 each. Smoke made two defenses in 1968, 1969 and 1970 [if you consider Ellis I a defense rather than unification] each. Considering that he successfully filled the HW void left by Ali's exile, I don't have a problem with his low activity level. It certainly exceeded the rate Ellis had as WBA pretender, and was consistent with successor Foreman's 1973 and 1974 pace. [At least we got to see more of Joe while on top back then.] Terrell wasn't that frequent a defender of the WBA title either, with his second and final defense against Doug Jones in June 1966, nearly eight months after Chuvalo, which in turn came about eight months after winning that vacated title against Machen. [Ali-Terrell also came around six months after Terrell-Jones.] Don't forget too that Frazier was plagued by progressive arthritis as well as high blood pressure. Nobody was going to match the pace Ali could. He's the GOAT HW for some reasons aside from self-aggrandizing promotional banter, like his five defenses in 1966, which he may have been on pace to surpass in 1967. [He also came back from Manila with three title defenses within the first six months of 1976, when he was 34.]
health problems...nothing left after first ali fight. first unbeaten man to face Ali and he beat him fair and square..
Being blind in one eye and having health problems really limited how much he could realistically do activity wise.
Yes. Jack Kent Cooke wanted the Ali rematch in California at his new Forum. Chances are Joe couldn`t have fought in California because of his eye. Otherwise the FOTC took something out of Joe and I believe his family and even his manager were advising him to retire. At the end of the day Joe had a lot more left than people realized.
If you fight two challengers in two years and both of them are unranked by definition you are avoiding your rated challengers .
