Joe Frazier As A Contender In The 50's?

the first 3 'Boxers' I would favour

Marciano would be a good fight I think, but Frazier might be a strong enough slugger like him to take a decision.

LaStarza too a good fight but verdict to Joe.

Layne & Henry aren't going to beat him.

from what I remember about Brion, he'd be a tough fight but not strong enough for Frazier. and Baker the puncher, if I remember rightly, wouldn't be putting a George Forman on him.

so Frazier losses to 3 of them, maybe 4, but should beat the rest.

However it is all just conjecture.

 

I see him beating the lot. Mariciano,Walcott and Charles push him all the way. Louis would have been too shopworn by this point in time.

 

He probably beats them all, though Marciano is a 50-50 fight, and Walcott and Charles might give him some trouble.

 

Can you imagine what Frazier would have done to this group ? Absolute murder. One thing the terrific new book on Charles is reconfirming for me is that Charles was an exceptional light heavyweight but not a great heavyweight and that Walcott is over rated by many here and an older fighter that fought in spurts. Louis was a shell .. still had a very good jab but was much slower and very hittable. Frazier would have wrecked this group.

 

In a one-off I could see him beating the lot of them, though i wouldn't necessarily make him a comfortable favorite overall (Charles, for example)..

In the context of an entire career, he would always be prone to burning out early. That's just life as a swarmer who gets hit.

I believe Marciano would be a career shortening prime - ender for Joe regardless of outcome so, to me, the question really is how many of the other guys does Joe get to first?

 

Have to agree with you on this.

Charles and Walcott, although great fighters do not bring as much to the table as Ali did in '71 and i don't see either of them having the firepower to KO Joe.

 

Sloppy on my part .. I meant excluding Rocky .. I favor Joe against him but by no means fee it would be a lock ...

 

This! Still haven't purchased the book on Ezzard Charles, but Dettloff was always a top writer back when the Ring was a magazine worth reading, and it's getting excellent reviews.

Joe Frazier of 69-72 commits legalised GBH on every member of that group, although that is obviously revised for the Joe Louis of the previous decade.

 

I think he beats them all, except Marciano, and that would be a 50-50.

Prime Louis would probably beat prime Joe, either by outboxing him or KOing him.



Conjecture, though, as somebody already pointed out.

 

The real question is how long does Joe hold up in any era before the damage he takes betrays him?

I've seen the case made dozens of times that prime Joe was gone at 27 fights, and that's without having fought an abundance of punchers.

If he fights Marciano at the wrong time, there's a pretty good chance he winds up as just another name (albeit, one of the better ones) of the era.

It's the curse of the swarmer/attrition fighter. They fight like beasts at their best, but how sustainable is the peak?

 

Frazier would murder Marciano and Liston? Really?

Frazier would murder Patterson Walcott Charles and Moore?

You sure about that?

We are talking the 50s here