How Close To Unbeatable Was FOTC Frazier?

Fixed.

 

Don't forget that while Marciano was older than Frazier, he never boxed for as long as Joe had boxed when he faced Foreman, and that's not even including his amateur career.

Marciano's career lasted from 1947 until 1955 and he was smart enough to retire when he was beginning to feel the effects of a hard career. Frazier had been a pro from 1965 and an amateur for longer than that.

I'm not going to say that Joe had it as tough as Henry Armstrong, but the Hammerin' Hank was just 27 at the time he lost to Fritzie Zivic and many felt he was just about done at that point. The point is that few fighters with the style of Frazier's last very long in the sport.

 

No doubt about it. The swarmer's style is very hard on the back and knees with all of the crouching, bobing, weaving, and in general, fighting at a lower center of gravity. It's also a style that sometimes involves having to take two or three shots just to land one, which of course can take its toll..

 

I don't say he should have faced any of them ,though I think it is understood Durham would not let him get in with Liston,[too much to lose too little to gain] that is smart management imo. The fact is he only met ONE for whatever reason you like and he was wrecked both times.
Frazier would have slaughtered Floyd as he did Foster,imo.

 

Dempsey had been out of the ring for 3 years when he met Tunney ,again his fault ,but he was making shitloads of money in films and vaudeville crap.
Ali lost 1 fight to Frazier after 4 years of exile and with 18rds of combat under his belt,he did not lose to another ATG until he met Holmes at the age of 39,10 years older than Frazier was, when Foreman used him as Steve Mcqueen' base ball in the Great Escape.
Holmes was an old man coming out of retirement.
Liston .well how old was he? And he lost to arguably the greatest of all time.
Frazier was 29 when he was demolished ,bad corellation imo.

 

Frazier did get slaughtered although I was quite impressed with some of the bombs he took in the rematch before having his career finished off in the 5th.

Few ever fought a prime puncher like George Foreman though. Rocky fought a faded Louis, Dempsey fought Firpo, Jeffries fought middleweight Fitzsimmons, all these men are considered to have solid chins.

 

Perhaps although he did not find it in himself to make a planned comeback in the late 1950's. The fire was gone I guess and a bad back was troubling him.

Frazier, based on an interview pre-FOTC, seemed to have a work ethic comparable to that of Marciano's but he got away from that when achieved what he had planned on achieving all along, a win over Muhammad Ali and the recognition of being the true champion.

From what I've read, Rocky never liked fighting opponents such as Don Cockell because a supposedly easy fight like that would not motivate him and thus he would not perform to the best of his abilities. He only wanted fights like Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore and Roland LaStarza. When he beat Moore, there weren't too many "superfights" left aside from another fight with Moore and the young Patterson. Perhaps he could not get himself motivated for those fights, or perhaps he had other reasons.

 

Although no one in this particular thread has been guilty of it, in the past I have seen posters claim that Frazier was actually past it by the time he had fought Ali in the FOTC...atsch

 

Excuses can be made about Frazier's high blood pressure and other injuries but again those are rather petty. Frazier fought like a man possessed that night and it was plain to see for everybody.

Cus D'Amato did criticize Frazier for "head-hunting" too much but I personally don't see it.

The fact is that excuses can be made for every fighter in every fight they fought. No one is ever 100% for a fight, atleast in my opinion.

 

*Unoutpointable. :deal