What if Ellis beat Frazier to become Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World? Would things have been any different?
Frazier destroyed Ellis(and would destroy him 10 times out of 10) so a "what if" scenario isn't really justified IMO. A better what if might be something like, " If Quarry had beaten Chuvalo, Machen and Ellis, would he have been the most accomplished HW of the 60s?"
What if Oscar Bonavena beat Muhammad Ali. One more big hook in the 11th Round, and Ali who looked like he was on roller skates for the first time, would have been KO'd. Joe Frazier vs Oscar Bonavena III for March 1971. On the undercard - Muhammad Ali vs Mike Boswell
Ellis did as well as he could have in the fight and showed great courage rising after getting clocked. He was a fine HW. Your Quarry comment suggests you're a Jerry 'nut-hugger'. He should have beaten Chuvalo, lost to a, still, slick boxing Eddie (no knock on Quarry as he was young and green at the time.) He chose to lay on the ropes against Ellis in Oakland and Jimmy didn't buy it. IMHO Quarry was MORE guilty of making that WBA title scrap a bore than Ellis. One final note, as much as I loved Jerry and rooted for him at that time, Joe would have beaten Jerry 10 times out of 10 simply because Quarry didn't have the punch to really hurt Joe nor the stamina...
Hello again Senor; yet again your Ali bias. No 'one more big hook in the 11th would have put Ali out. Do you, or anyone else, realize that Ali (against his whole camp) after a 15 round brawl with Oscar went ahead with Smokin' Joe roughly a scant 90 days later? Do you dispute that he was still trying to find himself after the huge layoff? IMO, had ego-maniac Ali listened to his people, he would have fought Joe in the summer of 71' and copped a hard-earned decision. What would have transpired after that in the division is a topic for another thread.
Do you dispute that in the year leading up to the FOTC that Ali had NINE times the rounds in the ring than Frazier did?
Frazier crushed Bob Foster prior to fighting Ali. Frazier may have been even better by Summer 71, and probably TKO'ed Ali. Ali lucked out by only losing by a UD in March....instead of being TKO'ed during the Summer.
Back to the topic, If Jimmy Ellis defeated Smokin Joe Frazier, he probably defends his title versus Floyd Patterson. Right back in New York City, probably in September 1971. This time Jimmy wins it with a better 15-round performance, say 9-5-1 in rounds. Smokin Joe, who was already talking about retirement, takes an easy bout on the undercard, versus Chuck Wepner. Joe busts up Chuck by TKO 4.
Interesting that Bob Foster never got a shot at Ellis......being Ellis had come all the way up from MW to be the WBA Hvy champ.
