"Joe Frazier was a slow starter." myth

A myth to try to prop up Fraziers ability. Probably derived from Foreman saying he jumped on Frazier to stop him from getting on a roll. Foreman was being kind. Nothing about Frazier posed any threat to Foreman.

 

it just means the first round

but yeah I agree overblown statement

 

I don't think that it's a myth. I watched it, i think Joe even have acknowledged it.

 

We know dude....

 

This is silly. It was a common belief predating Foreman. It was much discussed prior to the FOTC.

 

He did start slow at times, but he start rather quickly against Quarry do to necessity of Quarry coming to fight early and he knocked out Bob Foster quickly. He would start fast if the situation called for it. There were times where he started slow though, but once he started smokin he was hell on wheels.

 

He still lost the first round to Quarry. And I think he really got going by the third.

 

It is a half truth.

I would throw the first round of the Machen fight into the argument.

 

He tended to be more vulnerable in the early rounds. Foreman had him out in two rounds, Bonavena had him down twice in round two, Ali wobbled him in round two of their second fight, Mathis won a few early rounds. Getting him out early before he started smokin' was usually his opponent's best chance of winning.

 

He lost that round, but he threw around 60 punches to keep up to Quarry's pace.

 

I counted their punches a few years ago. Joe threw a total of 64 punches, but Jerry unloaded 93. 57 of JQ's punches were left hooks, and 20 of those left hooks were to Frazier's body. A completely unsustainable pace for Jerry.

Machen, Ziggy and Daniels all produced first round knockdowns, Manuel Ramos a near knockdown, and he won the opening round against Bob Foster. Very few are at their best in the opening round, but Joe was certainly no Carlos Palomino, Michael Spinks, Duane Bobick or Ken Norton (whose starching of Bobick was wildly anomalous) in that respect. (Ron Lyle made a volitional choice to never produce an opening round knockout, always opting for a feeling out process instead to try bettering himself as a boxer.)

I think I'll add Bob Foster and Danny Lopez to the list of heavy hitters who tended to start slowly.

 

Not sure, but Frazier's first KD of Ziggy may be the all time record for fastest opening round KD in HW Title competition, 13 seconds after the opening bell. Yes, it's only Ziggy, but for whatever it's worth, Smoke may have produced the only two KD's Ziggy sustained in his 36 bout career.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZGdfSIbPWE
01:08
Manuel Ramos did hurt him in round One.....