Joe Frazier vs. Evander Holyfield

I like Frazier by close decision. He was the busier man, possessed superior stamina and was the harder hitter between the two. If Holyfield slugs it out with Frazier in the trenches, there's a chance for a late stoppage by Frazier. If he fights a smart boxer-puncher strategy, then he runs Frazier close, but probably doesn't have the endurance and workrate at heavyweight to keep him.

 

Frazier UD

This would have been a hell of a fight. I think Frazier would have made this an inside fight and Holyfield would certainly be willing to stand his ground and fight. In my opinion, that benefits Frazier who would be throwing more punches, landing excellent body shots, and landing the harder shots.

 

If Evander Holyfield faced Mike Tyson, or Joe Frazier, the night he won against Bert Cooper; he would have lost.

Holyfield was a different fighter in 1991. He had yet to lose a fight, and was confident in his abilities. He had shown great boxing ability. All you have to do is watch his fight with Douglas, and you will see his skills.

Holyfield's problem was his willingness to throw a game plan out the window as soon as he was tagged, and turn a fight into a contest of wills. You see him do this in his first fight with Riddick Bowe. Holyfield boxed a beautiful first round. Bowe tagged Evander in the 2nd, and Holyfield began to try to win a slugfest. One may think, "Why try to win that way against a bigger opponent?" The answer is because of his success previously. Everytime he had gone to the well before, he got water. Against Bowe the first time, it didn't work. This made him pay more attention to strategy.

Don Turner mapped out great plan againt Mike Tyson. He had Evander line up his rear foot between the legs of his opponent. This takes away an orthodox fighter's left hook. It also lines up your opponent's right hand, which is why Holyfield was drilled with the first righ hand Mike threw.

If Holyfield has the mindset that followed the first Bowe fight, I'll pick Evander without hesitation. If not, Joe.

 

Frazier - constant pressure, great heart, inexhaustible stamina, superb left hook, good power, fairly good chin, no jab, knew only one way to fight, always gave his all.

Holyfield - great chin, great heart, excellent stamina, good but not great boxing skills, could adapt but tended to wage war when challenged, good jab, good power and also always gave his all.

Very well balanced on paper. Very diificult to call.

Frazier would have fought only one way. For Evander to win, he must vary his way of fighting. Hitting Frazier on the way in, sometimes moving out of the way, sometimes holding, sometimes waging war, etc.

If he allows his vanity to get in the way, as he often did, Frazier would pound out a decision win.

 

Holyfield's style resembles Quarry's quite a bit. Frazier had not much trouble with him, although Holyfield was pretty much superior in every area to Quarry. Still, i think Frazier wins most of the rounds on workrate and clean punching and ring generalship. Holyfield does not have a punch big enough to really keep Frazier of him, and once that happens.... you're in deep trouble.

I'd pick Frazier by decision.

 

Yes indeed.

 

This would be a war I see Frazier winning Bowe, Tyson and Foreman had success when they went to the body against Holyfield and Joe would kill the body. Frazier via UD.

 

When two Great/determined fighters meet sometimes its little nuances that can tip the Scales for or against, and who couldn't fail to be impressed by Evanders returning punch Salvos Against Foreman and Cooper after being hurt, - but on closer examination these Clusters were achieved against Static Upper Body Opponents who adopted a Cross arm Defense, - but this did not work against Evander who brought in Hooks/Uppercuts From Underneath to Lift the Head into Volley Valley, this is fine Against a George or Bert, but i feel It wouldn't work nearly as well against Joe due to Joe's Bobbing and Weaving, at this stage of his career Joe made himself surprisingly hard to hit with more then one punch on the way in , before Joe's Back on your Chest to Smother the Rest of the Combination,

I think Frazier would Make part of Evanders combinations miss with most of the other part being Smothered - This is not Knock-Kneed Bull-Rush Tyson Here, But a Ripping Snorting Perpetual Motion Pressure Hooker of a fighter, and I think both fighters Manical Desire for Victory will ultimately over-ride their Skills to a large extent, and it will come down to a battle of wills, rally after rally after rally, and i cant help thinking having been drawn into this Searching of the Souls, Joes Early but unappreciated Body work would lay down the foundation for a hard fought points win or late stoppage, which might see them both on the point of drowning from exhaustion, but with Joe's momentun carring him across the line first, with Evanders rallies Having become more Sporadic ( One hopes carless headwork would not be a factor !!) If Evander thought that Braxton, the Camden Buzzsaw was a Handful…Welcome to PaPa Saw Mill !

The Joe of March 6th 71 would be a terribly hard man to keep off over 15 rounds, particularly if your predeliction is to stand and trade. Evander has excellent skills as he showed in the first round of Bowe 1, but Evander also has a stubborn "Show Me" attitude which can, and in this instance probably would, lead to him abandoning the Boxing skills blueprint in favour of the battle of wills he so relishes, as displayed in Bowe 1st from the second round, yes Evander would see it as a personal challenge to meet this legendary fighter "Head to Head, Soul to Soul, and "Heart to Heart "

In such circumstances Evanders eyes Blaze with the desire to turn fights into a battle of wills and determination, more the skills and application, he is supremely confident that his well of desire runs deeper then most others, and in most cases he would be right , but heart to heart with Joe is not like going heart to heart with most others, he would certainly find out he is not in there with Stephanie Powers !

It seems like Evander likes to take his opponents to the gates of Hades, then dare them to follow him through if they want a chance of victory…they rarely do …
I suspect Smoking Joe would offer Evander his alternate Tour, - A tour of Hell in a Gasoline Suit !

In one for the ages I think Evander gets badly Singed, then slow Roasted, and if its over 15... ultimately cremated. !

( I suspect that some of the paying customers might not be able to stand the Minute on Minute, Round on Round Mayhem ?)

 

This is one for the ages like no other heavyweight contest fictional or historical.

 

This would be a true fans fight and a war. Holyfield proved he could go to war and win vs Dokes, Quai, Mercer, Foreman, and Cooper. Holyfield is an all around fighter. Good out fighter with a jab, right and hook. Good in-fighter with the uppercut, and sometimes head butting tactics. Holyfield was also a very counter puncher, solid body puncher and mostly smart fighter.

Although Frazier hit harder, I think Holyfield could take Frazier’s a bit better than Frazier could take Holyfield’s stuff. Frazier was mostly a grind you down type of KO artists. In the rounds that do not involve exchanges, you have to assume Holyfield outboxes Frazier. I’ll go with Holyfield here via late round TKO on swelling / mercy stoppage from the referee.

 

Here's the thing. How many Frazier rounds without exchanges exist at all ? Frazier always worked 180 seconds per round and never let his opponent off the hook or take a breather. The only reason he'd have no exchanges in a round is when he's jabbed at and tied up constantly, but Holyfield is not the one to do that, and you'd be looking at 20+ clinches a round. Holyfield got away fine with 16 clinches a round vs Tyson, though.

Anything can happen in boxing, but i don't think this is very likely. In '71, Ali hit him an enormous amount of times with jabs, right hands, hooks, everything, and not for 12 rounds but for 15. 60 punches a round (thrown). Many landed. He was swollen and puffed up, but far away from being stopped. Holyfield punches a bit harder than Ali, but Ali had a higher workrate and a better ability to cut, bruise and mark his opponents. Even when he was far past his best and half blind, it took 14 rounds of incredible punishement before his corner gave in.

Frankly, taking their careers into account, i think the chance of Holyfield breaking down is larger.

 

I tend to agree with you ,I give Frazier the edge ,the Frazier of the Ist Ali fight that is,Holyfield would be with him all the way ,but lacks that extra snap on his shots to stop Joe in his tracks .I think it would be an all action fight , a real war ,with Joe coming out of the trenches a shade better than Evander ,who starts to trade when tagged ,not a good idea against Frazier,unless you hit like Foreman.Frazier coming in in his crouch would also likely be free from the danger of a head butt,which is allways on the cards when Evander is operating,a great fight ,that Id pay to see!

 

I'll take Holyfield by late TKO, in a high action fight.