Joe Frazier: Where Do You Rate Him?

Very hard to rate fighters from different era's against each other.
I remember watching the Frazier-Foreman fight in 1973.
All of the 'so-called boxing experts' were rating Joe as the 'greatest heavyweight fighter' of 'all-time', just before the opening bell.

'Smokin Joe' was one of my favorite fighters.
An easier way to go is this way;
For '5' years, from 1968 thru 1972 he was definitely the 'best heavyweight' in the world.

 

You must have me confused with someone else. :bart Another Boxed or another Ears perhaps. I believe Floxed Ears is quite dependent on Photoshop, for example.

 

I'd put Frazier in the top 10 H2H and legacy wise. Considering he fought in one of the deepest era's in HW history, fought a spectacular trilogy against perhaps the greatest HW champion of all time and beat him once as well as fighting other very good HW's and defeating them (Bonevena,Quarry,Ellis,Bugner) as well as thrashing a ATG light heavyweight champion (Foster) places him right up there as far as I'm concerned. Add to the fact that he often gave up height and reach and had as much heart and courage as any man who ever laced a glove and Frazier has earned his place among the sports elite. As far as H2H goes a prime Frazier would be very difficult to overcome. You either had to be a remarkable boxer (Ali) or a dreadnaught (Foreman). Anything short of that and you were in for a long night.

 

Smokin' Joe Frazier took part in two of the greatest fights of the 20th Century in my opinion. He won one and came soooo close to winning the second. :happy Big ups to you OP for this post. He deserves the greatest of respect and awe from us fight fans for what he achieved. Alongside Ali, he is one of my all-time favourites.

 

Same here. :good

H2h is also something purely subjective and speculative.

 

are you stupid ???
i don't care about merits or legacy.. Fact is that liston got his titleshot a few years to late. if he had gotten it as deserved. he also could have a better legacy or merit as champ of the world. from 58 to 64 he was the best HW in the world. and if ali didn't come around he'd probably staid champ untill the late 60ties. and you can't compare holyfield merits with liston merits. in sonny's day there where far less HW titles to win then nowadays with all the different organizations..

 

No. This is all opinion. why can't you accept that.

 

Yeah, I agree, what could have been and perhaps might have been is obviously more important than what actually was. :good

 

not you are the only stupid here. You are talking about speculation and your imagination... WHAT IF... WHAT IF but the facts are foreman,holyfield,frazier,marciano,lewis,joe louis... Had better career than liston , they did beat better rivals. The best rivals of liston were patterson and cleveland williams. Foreman did beat frazier,norton,chuvalo,peralta, cooney, cooper,moorer,lyle and he is the oldest hw champ . If you put liston above foreman you are mentally ******ed, simply

 

foreman,holyfield,holmes,frazier, louis,lewis,marciano.. Had better career than liston, it is a fact not an opinion. The sea is blue, it is a fact not an opinion

 

I agree with you but that doesn't mean its a FACT..
there are plenty of reasons hwy Sonny didn't reach his full potential

 

TOMMY I AM TALKING ON FACTS.... EVEN IF YOU ARE RIGHT STILL THEY HAD BETTER CAREER THAN LISTON.
I COULD SAY RON LYLE DID HIS PRO DEBUT IN HIS 30s, marciano when he was 24.holyfield had problems of heart... we never saw the best ali .... the best ali would have been probably in 1968-69.... facts....

 

You fail to see that not everyone agrees with your opinions that you call facts.
I think that that a few of those fighters had better careers then Liston, but the thing is that i was rating my list on H2H and their career.

So for you to go off on me is just uncalled for

 

If Bowe is there Norton should be also - Bowe had one signiture win which elevates him but Norton sig win over Ali trumps it

 

you answer this bull**** always that you have not argument, you know that i am right. Simply liston is your favourite boxer.

BE SINCERE....

FOREMAN,HOLMES,FRAZIER,HOLYFIELD,MARCIANO,LEWIS,ALI,LOUIS. THEY HAD BETTER CAREER AND BETTER RIVALS THAN LISTON .... IS IT A FACT OR JUST AN OPINION?