If Joe Frazier Had To Retire After Stander??

Muhammad Ali defeats no.2 challenger Jerry Quarry on June 27 1972 to win the vacant World Heavyweight Title then meets undefeated George Foreman on Jan 22 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica. Ali defends title with a TKO 9.

 

Frazier would have been easily in the top 5 ATG list, many listing him a bit higher.

Norton would still win over Ali, then Foreman would have beaten Norton for the vacant title I think.

Then Ali would have beat George.

 

I do not think Ali would surpass Joe Louis if he is unable to beat Frazier in a rematch. He still goes on to rule the 70's, but there would not be that kick that the Ali Frazier fights brought to that decade. Joe would go down as one of the ATGS up there with Louis, Marciano, Dempsey. He may not surpass Louis, but he be in arguement as the number 2 guy with the likes of Dempsey and Marciano. Any case Ali would be ranked below Frazier on a ATG list.

 

What really would’ve made Frazier’s stock rise would be if he passed away tragically after Stander instead. Look what it did to Sanchez’s rep.

 

Wellll...Sanchez was also a freakishly great fighter.

Perhaps Randy Rhoads would have been a better example.

 

Nothing freakish, he was very good though. His title reign is a good viewing.

 

Frazier’s comments about Ali didn’t come anywhere close to the disrespect Ali showed Frazier. It was disgraceful.

 

In this timeline, Ali beats Foreman in Taiwan in the Melee in Taipei.

 

Joe was rumored to have died after FOTC due to his condition and Ali said he would never fight again if it was true.

 

Yeah it was only periodically instead of ongoing years of harassment, the most ruthless stuff he came up with is “see that condition he’s in, now you know who actually won all those fights” and “he should be thrown into the olympic flames.”

 

Muhammad was the first to admit,in more recent years,that he was wrong going over the top in his treatment of Joe. But Frazier could never seem to make his mind up as to whether he accepted Muhammad's apology. Sometimes he would be bitter about Ali,and at other times seem ok. For a long time I've thought that Joe's view on Ali altered with his mood. If everything else in his world was ok with Joe then Ali was ok. If he was pissed off with the world,however,he was pissed off with Muhammad.

 

Cheers,Fergy. I've always admired Frazier but a lot of people tend to give him a pass on this.

 

Definitely!