Joe Louis vs Joe Frazier

Maybe not the perfect example but this is the first thing that came to my mind. Same happens to Marciano if he would have fought a Prime Louis.

Arturo Godoy: 6'0+, 200+...never been knocked out until he met Louis.

This is how the fight ended in the 8th

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZayulM8qw2A[/ame]


Best chance either Marciano and Frazier have to win would be in the first fight. Rematch: All Louis.

 

The way Billy Conn rattled Joe with that left hook does make me wonder if Frazier
might have smoked Louis. I'll put that thought on hold though and bet Frazier starts his usual slow way with Louis hurting Frazier in a way the '67 Quarry wasn't able to with his right hands to the noggin.

 

Frazier would try to swarm Louis, and that would not work...in my opinion. I think Louis would stop him.

 

I do believe that Lennox dominated both Louis and Frazier.

 

I will compare the Louis of the Godoy rematch with the fast starting and strong finishing Frazier of 1969, 1970 and 1971, who starched Ziggy and blew out Foster, and who had the experience of a hard 15 hard rounds of action under his belt behind him, courtesy of the Bonavena rematch.

Louis did not like to be crowded and backed up, and Frazier was far more aggressive and defensively elusive than Godoy or Galento. If Two-Ton's hook could put Louis on the deck, then Frazier likely manages this at some point. While Frazier can also hit the floor during the proceedings, he demonstrated with Bonavena in their first meeting that he had the survival skills to weather the storm.

Frazier had excellent functional physical strength against anybody not named Foreman, and that would be enough to at least neutralize the physical strength of Louis. This would be a rugged battle that could go either way, but in a first time match up, I like Frazier's 15 rounds of hustling work rate and committed bobbing and weaving to carry him to an upset decision win in a phone booth affair, with Louis doing the retreating. Frazier's initiating trumps the countering of Louis on the scorecards.

 

So Louis didn't like to be crowded just like fighters don't tend to like to get hit in the face. It doesn't mean he couldn't deal with it...especially after he learned how to.

Louis can be put down, no denying that. But so can Frazier.

Louis was a better finisher than Bonavena. But I know Frazier is better than those that floored Louis. Frazier's left-hook is a killer. He can also wear you down to the body over the course of a fight.

Louis had more in his arsenal. He could pump the jab, combos to the head, combos to the body, mix them up...throw uppercuts (which I do think catches Frazier)...move around/slide...counter and so on.

I think if Frazier gets hurt, he stays hurt because Louis would jump right on top of him and continue the pressure.

It is a tough fight to call.

Louis would have problems if he fought Frazier the same way he did Godoy in the first match. It took that match to make him realize how to fight Godoy and stop him in his tracks in the rematch.

 

As much as I like and admire Joe Frazier, esp. the FOTC version of him, Joe Louis, the most perfect puncher of the heavyweights, finds him and ko's him in one or two rounds.

 

The fight would be decided within the first two rounds, and Louis would have finished off Smokin' Joe much more efficiently and cleaner than did Foreman. Louis would have hurt the slower starting Frazier within those 6 minutes and finished him off emphatically.

 

I voted Louis KO's Frazier; however, over the years, I've gone from viewing this as a bad match-up for Frazier to being a very tough, competitive fight that could come down to who's more 'on' on any particular night.

 

If I were Louis's manager then I would rather put him in with Frazier than Ali. Not to say that Frazier would not pose problems.

That is what I think.

 

Frazier might be one of the toughest guys to finish. I think Louis gets him hurt at some point but has immense trouble finishing him. Maybe Frazier gets stopped.

 

In the 2nd Frazier-Ali bout, I remember Joe getting stung and rattled in the 2nd...Joe's danger zone the first couple of rounds, and I've always thought that if it were Louis in there instead of Ali, it would have ended in that round for sure.

 

If the ref breaks it up randomly, then Joe survives. That was just weird. Perez was bad all around in that fight.

 

Frazier is made for the Brown Bomber. Using his swarming style against arguably the best puncher of all-time will ensure that he's the one getting smoked.