In hind sight, How should Frazier have fought Foreman?

Indeed:good!

 

With a gun.

 

If anyone's drowning here it will be Joe!


http://forums.sherdog.com/forums/f5...oe-frazier-tv-superstars-competition-1566617/:yep

 

Foreman at the time was very hard to beat. He was a near perfect wrecking machine. great corner, footwork, chin and a ton of natural power and confidence in using it. look at the hell ali had to endure to finally get the win.

If I was training frazier for foreman.......
Stylistically the worst place for frazier to stand is in the mid range. That's where georges power is most dangerous and fraziers mid range defense wasn't great. plus frazier cant land from there.
bobbing up and down while bombs whistle over your head and uppercuts from satan come from underneath is never going to work for him. no Russian roulette.
So frazier has to be very close or very far to be effective.
Being far away is not really an option as it goes against fraziers grain and even accomplished back foot boxers like ali were quickly caught and trapped by foreman.
So frazier needs a way to occupy foreman while he steps through the danger zone to get into punching range. if he tries to just bob through it its just target practice for foreman.
So he has to come in punching. use the double jab, and the right over the top to set up the left hook. keep foreman occupied with the jab and hooks while you come through the mid range. Do it fast. watch the uppercut. foreman wont have his arms out pushing if theres jabs and hooks coming over.
When close, id have joe really open up, because he wouldn't have long before foreman clinched and as it wouldn't be easy to get close, he has to make the absolute most of it.
Let the ref call break and get back on the jab and repeat.
Frazier could catch foreman with something big on the way in behind the jabbing, and could gradually break foreman up on the inside.
That's the strategy id give him.
Good luck joe!

 

He should have followed Dempsey's plan against Wills.

 

The problem for Frazier would be that Foreman was very good at cutting the ring down and whilst you would advice Frazier to fight up close, Foreman was very good at pushing fighters to create the distance he needed. To be honest, i think the only way Frazier could of beaten Foreman was to be able to cope with the punishment and take out Foreman later in the fight, the only problem is Frazier showed he wasn't able to handle the punishment. It's just a bad style for Frazier because he's fighting another aggressive boxer that is just stronger and punches harder. Foreman doesn't even have a bad chin so couldn't expect one punch knockout for Frazier. The way to beat Foreman was to take him to the second half of the fight. Not simple for a style like Frazier.

 

When I say perfect wrecking machine I meant more his physicality and his seek and destroy mentality, his ring control, his aggression, his chin etc, not so much his mastery of the finer points.
That said, he made his crudeness work for him, yes he punched awkwardly, but its often hard to defend against unusually thrown shots, they often surprise.
yes he telegraphed most of his shots but it didn't seem to cost him too much. I may know what times a trains coming but theres no way in hell im stopping it. also foreman had a way of snapping his punches on the last second which made his speed and timing deceptive.
He did have bad gas though through loading up and this was a weakness in his early career.
Although he was often slow and plodding his movements were fit for purpose and ruthlessly efficient he could corner ali with 2 or 3 clever steps.
The strategy I mentioned earlier would give frazier his best chance as far as I can see, he could definitely win this way.

 

This fight is and has always been simple to assess. Two aggressive guys who come right at you, one of them significantly bigger and stronger. It's not hard to figure out what happens.

 

George was seemingly breathing hard after throwing all those punches at Joe in the second fight. Joe would have had to get into the 8th at least and start more of an offensive. The problem would be that by that time Joe would have a hard time winning a decision if the fight went the distance. George would have won too many rounds. Joe would almost certainly have to stop George unless Joe had turned the fight around in the sixth. Asking this of an overweight, war torn Joe Frazier in '76 would be a huge task. A FOTC Joe would have the stamina but it would still be a tough night just to get beyond 5 rounds and mount a strong offensive, using the '76 style.

 

Or knock him down multiple times.

 

the question was can you devise a strategy for frazier to beat foreman? not such an easy question.

 

Just jesting.

 

foreman didn't push nearly as much vs ron lyle for example because lyle was hooking over his outstretched arms and was able to hurt foreman.
Frazier was a heavy hitter, he could definitely hurt George in the same way but to win he needs a way to get into range without shipping heavy damage so he can land his own offense. hes, nearly there. head movement is essential and its how he fights but as I mentioned I think he needs to jab and double jab his way inside, moving his feet in quickly hiding big bombs behind the jab. walking in the way he did in the first 2 fights would always lead to a similar result I feel.