Public perception of George Foreman going into the first Frazier fight

Yeah man totally. I remember when Braddock was fighting Baer. Everyone of the casual fans said that Braddock had no chance, but me and the other true fans deducted his style and knew he would win.

Did the same thing during Sullivan/Corbett and David/Goliath.

good times

 

Frazier was worlds champion and had beaten Ali in 71. Nobody saw anyone on the horizon that could defeat him and that included Foreman. That all changed however after the utter demolition of Frazier in 73 by George. The defeat was so all encompassing and total that few if any gave Frazier a chance in a rematch. The bout was akin and compared to Dempsey's destruction of Willard in 1919.

 

Nice write up concerning their second bout. Note that the venue could hold nearly 18,000 but only 10,000 attended.

http://www.si.com/vault/1976/06/28/618607/smokin-joe-burns-out

 

Incorrect. Frazier was actually the favorite in the rematch.

 

Untrue. ONE oddsmaker in Vegas made Joe the favorite. Frazier was not the favorite most anyplace else. Thus the very poor crowd going to view the fight.

 

Here is an article from a few days prior to their second bout. Foreman states Joe is the underdog......which everyone who lived through that time understands as factual. Also note the other prevalent thought at the time that Frazier at 32 was thought of as finished as a fighter after being stopped by Ali the prior year.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=esoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4436,3771349&hl=en

 

I couldn't find any oddsmakers who favored Foreman. Though, overall, few thought Frazier had a chance.

 

Lovely story.

The fight was a bit before my time, but reading subsequent re-prints of The Ring and one or two other mags at the time, one gets the picture of George as being a big, strong guy who still had a lot to learn.
His lack of ring science was often criticised and he was seen as stiff, often plodding, by the press.
And, as already stated, his opposition was called into question. To put it in a condensed manner: the consensus was that George had plenty to learn and to prove.

 

Fight one Frazier was the undefeated champion and he beat Ali. He was and justifiably so the favorite going into the bout against the young, strong challenger.

Fight one aftermath however the result was compared to Dempsey Willard. Foreman just completely dominated Frazier knocking him down six times over less than two rounds.

Going into the return bout Frazier was 32 and had been beaten to a pulp by Ali the year before. It was felt that Fraziers fighting days were over. The bout was heavily publicized with both fighters donning gladiator outfits for tv ads. Even with all the publicity to get the public interested only around 10000 attending the bout in NY where the capacity was 18,000. Foreman was the overwhelming favorite. Ali stated that "Foreman will end the bout as soon as he hits Frazier"

 

That was surprisingly not the case.

 

The idea is very very few gave Frazier any chance of beating Foreman and that included Ali. Hence the very sp**** live crowd to see the fight.

 

I went to see both Frazier-Foreman fights on closed circuit TV in a theatre. In the second fight, Frazier was certainly the sentimental favorite. The crowd was very pro-Frazier and very anti-Foreman. Many turned on Foreman after he lost to Ali, then did the five-man circus nearly a year later. Many admired Frazier for his efforts in Manila the year before. When the bell sounded ending round one, the crowd erupted in applause for Joe having made it through the round without being dropped. After the second round the applause was even more intense. When it was all over, even though Joe lost he did win a sort of moral victory by surviving the earlier rounds in a fashion that he had not in the first fight.

Just before the second fight, sports columnist **** Young, writing for the New York Daily News, wrote that Joe had gone back too far to have a chance of defeating George. He said that Joe will be fighting to find the answer to the question of whether he would have won the first fight had he been in shape and taken the fight seriously. He went on to say that he will get his answer - yes, he would have won that fight. While today apparently most feel that 1973 Foreman would have beaten any version of Frazier, back then there were still a number who felt that Frazier lost the fight as much as Foreman won it.

 

Good stuff. :thumbsup

 

**** Young who I read daily back in those days loved Joe Frazier (and utterly despised Ali). It would not surprise me that he would have a very ultra minority opinion regarding Frazier. He also wrote that the first Leonard Duran fight "smelled" (as in a fix).

The crowd was over the top Frazier fans 10-1. It was still a very sp**** crowd because in most everyone's mind it was going to be a blow out.

 

At the time I was a big fan of young George, following his progress. I said he'd win but when he did I was shocked! I also feared Foreman would seriously hurt Ali or worse....