Joe Frazier

To be honest, I thought that Ali was trying to avoid taking punishment on the ropes, and didn't do the "rope-a-dope" very much apart from select portions of the later rounds. That obviously makes Frazier's performance all the more impressive, as he was able to beat Ali at his own game to an extent and land head shots consistently. I thought Ali lay on the ropes much more in Manila, really.

 

When people think of Frazier they'll always think of Ali,and vice versa. The Rope-A-Dope technique,while perfect for dealing with Foreman,was never going to work with Frazier. Throwing wild long shots just played into Muhammad's hands,while Frazier's shorter,more measured punches negated Ali's tactic with the ropes.

 

yeah smokin joe. if i had to make a top ten of personal favorites he'd be definetely top 5. the guy had a lot of heart and determenation

 

Larger gloves are used now, and the championship distance has been abolished. Both reduce the cumulative value of body punching significantly. (Which brings up the idea that if you want to reduce the occurrence of brain trauma, make the gloves smaller, restore the championship distance, and instruct judges to place greater emphasis on body punching.)

 

I wish more would make observations like this about Frazier. Joe's physical strength was widely hailed as one of his greatest assets, and Ali was no slouch in that respect himself. Frazier's reputation in this regard was only compromised when he took on the freakish Foreman, but he more than held his own when dealing with Chuvalo, Stander and Quarry, all physically powerful slabs of granite.

When Joe first took up boxing to lose weight, he weighed upwards of 240 solid pounds. It was a dedicated effort which brought him to his early goal of around 200 pounds. Today, a 26 year old Frazier would probably be competing at not less than 225. (That Joe is even alive today, with all the health issues he's dealt with for decades, high blood pressure, arthritis and diabetes, car accident injuries, etc...is probably attributable to the fact he took up boxing in the first place to develop his body. Had he never engaged in any kind of weight loss measures, he could well have passed on before he ever got out of his 40s.)

 

TBH, in that particular instanceit looks to me like Ali was extremely fatigued and had little strength to resist, Joe was like" I aint done with you yet, and you wanted this" :yep

 

Interesting point :think

 

I have "Frazier-Ellis 2" rolling from Aussieville going on. No, not a great fight at all; kinda' slow and boring... Frazier is work-man-like, while Ellis is trying hard to stay alive.... Bob Foster is the referee.........
:deal
I do believe that this was a GOOD "Tune-Up" fight to have in order to get ready for Ali later in the year...
:thumbsup

MR.BILL:bbb