One For Chris Pontius& Marciano Frazier

Hard to pick.

Joe could collapse under the barrage of offence that Mike would bring.

Then again, so could Mike against similar offence from Joe.

On balance, I think Mike has an edge in size, power and just maybe chin as well.

So I'll pick round 2, and I'll go with Mike by a whisker.

But a Joe victory wouldn't surprise me.

In fact, if there is a round 7 or later, Joe will win.



(If they met on the street, Joe wins.

Very quickly and very brutally.)

 

Tyson by early technical knockout. You could make a decent argument for Frazier based on how ineffective Mike was against Mathis jr, but Frazier was too vulnerable early in every one of his fights for my liking here.

 

Frazier gets sold short a bit on his performance in the early rounds.

If you doubt this look at the first round of the Machen fight.

I think that if Frazier knew that he was going to be in a war with Mike from the opening bell he would be able to give similar to what he got, give or take.

 

Tyson wins this imo

 

Tyson blasts him out inside of five, before Joe gets smokin'.

 

tyson was far past his prime very rusty when he took on mathis jr. We are talking about the 1986-1988 Mike.

 

I don't think it's necessarily true that Joe looked vulnerable early in "every one" of his fights. The Foster, Zyglewicz and Ramos fights, for example, are examples of fights where he came out storming and won in early, emphatic fashion. Of course, it is possible he was just as vulnerable then as in other instances and it simply wasn't brought to bear.

Anyway, there is definitely a serious problem for Frazier here, in that he was a characteristically slow starter who sometimes had trouble even against far inferior opponents in the early rounds, while Tyson was a characteristically fast starter who could take you out in a second if you blinked. That said, though, it is worth pointing out that Tyson is not George Foreman and is missing some of the crucial attributes which allowed Foreman to do what he did against Frazier- for one, Joe would actually have the slight height-and-reach advantage here, meaning Tyson has to fight at a range where Frazier can land punches and do damage of his own, which could assuage his offense enough that he can't just run a demolition derby the way Foreman did. Tyson quite likely gets a stoppage in the first half of the scheduled fight, but Frazier's chances increase dramatically with each passing round, and if Frazier holds up through the first six rounds, I take him by later-round stoppage.

 

Since when did Frazier ever fight at range? This is the same Joe Frazier that pretty much had to bury his head in your chest to do his best work?

I remember the problem Frazier had with Foreman was not reach but that he kept getting shoved backward from his optimal range - Foreman's chest - and into bombing range.

 

Given that Frazier would know Tyson is going to go berko early and it is his own danger time is it possible he might warm up more so than normal and come in somewhat prepared? Jeez, i'd just about have sparring partners in the dressing room if need be to get him firing himself early

 

I keep seeing a Micheal Spinks - Tyson replay if Joe doesn't come out totally "ready to go to war".

 

There's no doubt Frazier has to bring it early. He needs to come in warm and land one of those left hooks on Tyson early to put caution into the attack. The first round could well be the big key moment of this fight, silly as it normally would seem.

 

Frazier does not match up well with Tyson. Both guys come to fight. Tyson has more power in both hands, the better chin, and is the faster starter. Tyson likely had faster hands, and was much stronger. Bad match up for Frazier.

In their primes, I think Tyson wins via TKO. An early stoppage win for Tyson would not surprise me.

 

Agreed

 

Frazier Would Half To Be Close And Close Is Not Were You Want To Be With Tyson,whom I Consider To Be The 2nd Greatist Heavy Infighter Of All Time In His Short But Sweet Prime,prime Vs Prime Tyson Ko 2-6th Round