If Frazier and Marciano switched eras...

There is a guy who works here in the marina, about 6ft 3 and 100lbs soaking wet. He actually makes fun of himself for being called Mantis.
To cap it all off, he has a shaven head and even has a pointy beard which enhances the look.

Sadly some people need a humour transplant.

2 questions i would ask anyone who takes offence with Macs comment:-

How tall are you?
How much do you weigh?

I think, therein lies your answer.

 

No. However, Liston was a part of the Frazier era. Still active until 1970.

 

That's it in the real world. I can't fathom how anyone could see it as insulting to the fighter but that's just me. I know for a fact Mac is a big fan of Foster's as clearly seen over many years of posting.

 

This is a post made in 2007 about Foster facing Qawi,the poster is a good guy and is complimentary towards Foster here ,he also uses the term"Praying Mantis" positively in describing Foster.

"Peak Bob Foster (1968-1972) would have at least decisioned Dwight Qawi over 15 rounds, but he was also capable of hooking off an uppercut, as he did against **** Tiger. A short, fire plug of a guy that Qawi was, although a very good fire plug, would have been a likely ko victim of Foster. Foster was scary at his peak. He resembled a big praying mantis in there against those poor guys. The way he went after and then executed Vincente Rondon was awesome to behold."


"Bob Foster is the pure puncher of the top five, and one of the purest punchers at any weight in boxing history. One of that small handful of punchers at the very top of the punching-power index too, who, when he landed, put out the lights–period. Great chins were a non-factor. Ask the uber-durable Dick Tiger, who Foster helped to take an instant nap with one left hook. Foster’s right was a nice weapon. His jab, slashing. But his left hook was the hardest single punch in light heavyweight history. At 6’3″, Foster was unusually tall, but didn’t fight like it. He boxed in a really wide stance, and out of a sort of forward-leaning crouch, reducing his height. He advanced, in and out like a boxing-glove-clad praying mantis."
That was from an article about the top ten all time light heavyweights.
Here is the link.
https://intelligentboxing.net/light-heavyweights-10-best-ever/

Here is a piece by Arthur Daly of the NY TImes, one of boxing s best writers where he refers to Foster as a , " praying mantis," for his upcoming fight with Frazier and attributes the nick name to another top boxing writer Barney Nagler.
"The increase has not been visible to the naked eye, maybe because it has been spread out so far. Foster is a tall, spindly character who stands 6 feet 3½ inches. That's about the same height as Ali. But where Ali can—and sometimes does— carry 215 pounds on his beautifully pro portioned frame, Foster appears frail. Barney Nagler, the boxing historian, has described him as resembling a praying mantis."

Here is the link.
http://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/18/a...times-the-heavyweight-championship-fight.html .

Below extract from an article about Foster in Sports Illustrated.

"The sudden flurry of aspirants for the light heavyweight championship was stirred up by the recent retirement of Bob Foster, who dominated the division for six years. Foster, as tall, thin and deadly as a praying mantis, "won 51 of 58 fights and all his losses were to heavyweights. He defended his title 14 times and knocked out 11 contenders. In his most recent fight, against Ahumada, he got a draw, but he says he was not in shape.

Here is the link.
https://www.si.com/vault/1974/10/14/628509/bigger-isnt-always-better.
There are several more from Mike Casey ,Lou Viscusi,his manager referring to him in that way but I think that's sufficient.
I'm going to leave it there,you are welcome to pursue it as doggedly as you wish.I've no more to say on the subject.

 

The mantis is a natural predator of the nature... Calling anyone mantis is not an insult if anything it is a compliment

 

Good description of Foster IMO how is it an insult? Mike Spinks was near the same size and looked different. Moore looked like a preying mantis

Moore had better results for a few reasons IMO his style was not a stalker style he baited fighters into him a little more....Foster went after fighters the fight with Frazier was no indicator of how Moore would do given the speed and urgency Frazier attacked Foster the fight with Moore would be similar maybe longer as Moore was better defensively and accustomed to fighting on the defense unlike Foster......Foster had brutal power his punches all sounded like thuds even his jabs. As others here have said he could not put on meaningful weight to stay at heavyweight given the size and caliber of the heavies in his era