Problems I had with Frazier vs Foreman I

So you think that Mercante did a good job? I thought that he clearly let Foreman get away with WAY too much egregious shoving. Should have deducted points. I doubt that Joe ever had much of a chance of winning but that was still ridiculous and unfair.

 

Is that Angelo Dundee you can hear screaming "Stop it!!" I know he was ringside for the fight.

 

Yep, that was Angie. And although he was a pretty sizable underdog going in, a lot of folks were picking George for the win.

 

But they wouldn't fight a thousand times. Not then and especially not now in the modern post-2000 era when you are lucky to see two defenses a year.
Between 1941 and 1951 Ray Robinson fought 133 fights!
That's 12-13/year.
Let any of the modern ATG's fight that many and you are going to tack on a substantial amount of losses to their resume.
But Ray, after giving away 15+ pounds against LaMotta, kicked his ass a mere 3 weeks later. And the Basora draw? A KO in the rematch.
Do the math; 131-1-1 after the St. Valentine's Day massacre!
I forgot to mention his 85-0 record as an amateur.
216-1-1 from green teenager until his near retirement, only to come back in the late fifties and give us some of the finest fights of his career despite being well past prime.
Just another shout out to the greatest fighter who ever lived!

 

Buy a gun, refs don't stop boxers from pushing ever unless you can find an example.

 

The referee did stop Foreman from pushing in the Jimmy Young fight, when Young purposely fell down multiple times.

Dwight Muhammad Qawi would us the same tactic years later.

 

In an earlier fight against Boone Kirkman, the same ref let Foreman get away with showing Kirkman to the floor as soon as the fight began. Watch it on YouTube and you will see. Shoving was part of early George's style. Mercante should have spoken to Foreman before the fight about this tactic.

 

Yep.

 

Once again......Mercante warned Foreman several times. The problem for Frazier was that he had so much more to worry about than pushing after 90 seconds or so from the opening bell.

Quite obviously and the thought of any sane person who lived through that time period.....Frazier would never stood a chance against Foreman. He was a sitting duck for Foremans most powerful punches. Frazier was staggered from George's jab let alone the uppercuts that nearly decapitated him. The second knockdown that Foreman uppercut was IMO one of the most powerful blows ever thrown. Herculean.

 

Not that many heavyweights could have pushed Frazier away so easily. Foreman had uncommon strength and he made it look easy. Then he would catch Joe trying to get back inside. I don`t see Foreman punching himself out because it was target practice he wasn`t missing much and Frazier was a sitting duck.

 

Foreman was warned once about his shoving in round two, the only other warning was to Frazier for a low blow in round one. He shoved Frazier all through the fight, all the way to just before the last knockdown. Mercante definitely let George get away with it. Without the shoving, George still would have most likely started teeing off on Joe, as he did.

 

What I always wondered was why the Frazier corner did not anticipate much of anything going into the fight. The mismatch of corner strategy was on par with the fight itself. Where was the evidence of pre-fight preperations?

It looked like it was pretty much like the Stander fight and the plan was for Joe to continue chopping away and the other guy will fold. They sure didn't look 1 iota prepared for George's shoving or physical strength in there. Let alone things like dealing with uppercuts from both hands. Yet they must have scouted the guy after signing the contract.

Corner wise--I think it was up there with Trevor Berbick against Tyson. Can you imagine cutting a check for those guys in the corner for that? They should have waved it off earlier and prevented some of those knockdowns. I know Futch is treated like the best of all time around here. Who thinks that was a best of all time effort from a corner?

 

Yes, Foreman shouldn't have been allowed to push repeatedly, but Frazier would never beat George. In the second fight Joe tried a different strategy. It delayed the inevitable for a short while, but the inevitable, of course, happened. Fighters similar to George would have wrecked Joe as well. Bonavena, limited as he was, almost did it.