Reviewing "Ali-Frazier 1" right now outta tribute to Joe Frazier's death....

There appears to be some controversy among boxing historians as to the validity, not to mention the veracity of the foregoing assertion.

And if that should emerge as the prevailing point of view, we probably need to review a considerable quantity of Boxrec's statistics.

But seriously, though, it was a close, competitive fight.

8-7, 9-6 or anything within that range would be reasonable.

Any conclusion that fell outside of that window would render the concluder (yes, there is such a word !) somewhat dubious.

No !

YES !

If you buy Einstein's General theory of relativity and its consequences for the nature of space-time,mand factor in the possibility of the existence of Einstein-Rosen bridges (wormholes), then this statement might be on shaky ground.

As definitely definitive and as definitively definite as mere mortals can get.

To hold otherwise would render one a fool. Maybe even a cretin ?

And worse, despite being great, no longer peaking !

 

yeah the knockdown was an exclamation point his victory.

 

I had it 8-7 for Frazier, with the 15th round being the decisive 8th round in Fraziers favor, with a knockdown for icing.

The fighting in this fight was very competitive and even. Frazier had Ali under constant pressure, and hit him with bombs, and Ali was rather active early, and wasn't missing much.

I think the key to this fight was Joe's desire, conditioning, and insane toughness. Ali beat the tar out of him early; Accurate combinations, hurtful and stinging, slamming in flush repeatedly. Joe didn't deter. He didn't stop. He ate them, he survived, he pressured, and yes, Ali eventually ran out of steam, and rather than lose a step, Frazier instead turned it up.

This fight is textbook deep-waters, drown him late. Smoke sucked it up early against the faster, more talented fighter, and when said fighter started getting tired, ploughed into him constantly to win rounds by attrition and grit.

FOTC Frazier isn't a H2H nightmare because of incredible skill. His skills were fairly workmanlike, actually. Joe has had more electric and explosive performances. No, Joe was nearly unstoppable this night because he was nearly unstoppable that night. You'd need a bat(Or George Foreman) to deter deter him. You'd need to be in the apex of human condition to stay with him, as Joe had trained to be a machine in that fight. You'd need to be willing to walk through hell, because Joe was. You'd need to be able to stand with him and take was he was clearly willing to take.

Good luck, is all I can say. I can think of a handful of men on a handful of nights whom I think can do it. Smoke's will in this fight is over the top. Heart CAN win boxing matches!

Ali was ready for a fight that night, but not for that type of fight. He wasn't in optimal condition, and he wasn't sharp or honed. Watch the legs, and watch Manila. Ali wasn't in peak shape in III, either, but was sharper and had more ring time to compensate. Under Ali's conditions in the FOTC, there is no way he was ready to keep the pace.

Joe beat a great version of Ali, but he didn't beat the very best one. I don't know how one can say that he didn't beat a formidable Ali, and I also don't know how one can not see the clear differences between this Ali and some better versions.

 

No matter how good a condition Ali would be in, theres no doubt in anybodys eyes that frazier would always give him the fight of his life.

 

This Joe would give 99.9% of any heavies ever the fight of their lives.

God, I'm imaging the nightmare. An angry threshing machine all over me, I'm tagging him and he's just going "grrrr."
Scary.

 

If you couldnt blast Joe out early your in for a painful night thats for sure. One hell of a fighter and man and sorely missed. R.I.P champ

 

:good:good:good

 

I also often argued that Ali in some ways look sharper in Manilla. He was able to set the pace and pick his punches to a somewhat higher degree in that fight, and I think that's the reason he could suck it up in the late rounds. It's hard to know how much of that was down to Frazier being slower, though.

But even if his legs wasn't in top shape in FOTC, I really like Ali's punching in the early rounds. He misses more than usual, but there still are many sharp and varied combinations in there.

In both FOTC and Manilla, Ali sits down nicely on his punches. No shoe-shining there. Sharp, solid blows.

 

Ali was younger and more spry in FOTC, but actually have little doubt the Ali from Manila was better- No rush, no pomp, and he got after it. Ali fought the middle rounds of 71 like a moron.

 

Yeah, hanging on the ropes with low hands against such a deadly guy as Frazier... Ali's mindset going into the fight is worth a thread in itself. It almost seems a part of him refused to respect Joe as a rival which demanded his all. Frazier of course set him straight on that.

In Manilla he fought smarter. Covered up when on the ropes and therefore took less clean punches. Didn't clown around as much.

 

And this is it, in summary.

Once Frazier started to land and impose in Manila, Ali fought to win. He kept a tight guard, picked his shots, and started grinding right along with Joe. There is a reason Joe was feeling fatigue right along with Ali in the late rounds.

In FOTC, Ali tried, rather consistently, to outman and outduel Joe, even on the ropes. This was foolhardy, and had no chance of success on this particular night. Taking big left hook after big left hook in the 11th, and smiling instead of doing more holding or putting your hands up, quite frankly says it all. Dude was just being an idiot.