why joe frazier beats lennox lewis

I think Frazier has a great chance of winning, but not stopping Lewis. Lennox was caught sleeping or unprepared in his two losses, he wouldn't have the same outlook against an all time great. That said, if Ali's jab could be slipped by Frazier I don't think LL's jab is going to be a major deterrent. Frazier needs to avoid the LL uppercut to win here as he was susceptible to those types of punches against Foreman. LL wasn't really a looping puncher how could catch Joe in the bob or weave. I do agree Fraziers workrate will cause major difficulties unless LL can tie him up and wear him down. Overall I'd pick Frazier by hard fought decision.

 

That argument is always interesting, using George to gauge how Lennox would do. The problem is 1 you are comparing George Foreman to Lennox, which in itself is somewhat ignorant as Lennox is nowhere near the fighter that Foreman was. 2, Joe was "shot" as far as I'm concerned when he fought Foreman. Look at his body, he was out of shape and had a wide ass. Look at the Frazier that fought Ali the first time compared to the Frazier that fought Foreman, Stander, etc... He didn't even look the same and I do think we'd have seen a very different fight if Joe was at his absolute peak against Foreman.

Joe Frazier would handily beat Lennox Lewis by knockout. In this fight I can barely give Lennox a punchers chance.

And I have never seen this "jab" that people mention with Lennox. To me his jab was weak and more just a distraction than a crisp punch. He's no Larry Holmes, thats for sure.

 

I think it would be worse for Lewis then the Mercer and Vitali fights, put it that way. Frazier is a lot better at slipping punches to get in range and I don't know how many left hooks Lewis would be able to take. Prime Frazier's pressure is on a whole different level then the Tyson and Tua Lewis fought. Lewis may be able to slow the fight down but I have a hard time seeing the fight going that way.

 

I'm with you. Frazier WOULD slip Lennox and counter with a left hook, and as we all know Lennox is known to go down from a single punch. Frazier had one of the hardest left hooks in boxing history so I think it's very probable that Lewis would go down after taking just 1 on the chin.

 

lewis's ramrob jab and brutal uppercut prove too much for Frazier, who puts up a valiant effort but gets stopped in the mid rounds.

Lets be real here, Lewis loves come forward guys like Frazier, and he's gonna be walking into that deadly uppercut/right hand all night long. The fight would be significantly different if Lewis didn't have such a great punch arsenal however.

 

Just how good is Lennox on the inside? Because Joe may be the greatest infighter of all heavyweight champions. (I'm including Burns, Dempsey and Marciano in that statement. Tommy Gibbons survived the championship distance with Jack in part by smothering in close, as Charles did with Rocky. Trying to smother Frazier's hook by taking away his punching room is a different matter.) Jerry Quarry had some fleeting success inside through the first couple rounds of his first match with Joe, and Ali was surprisingly able to war with him in the trenches at Manila, but this was usually the last ATG HW one wanted to meet at close quarters.

Foreman is a bad analogy for Lennox. Only fellow freak Jeffries really used his physical strength as aggressively as George among the HW Champions. We don't know that Lennox was even remotely in the same ballpark with respect to this attribute. (Ask Holyfield, Briggs and Morrison how Lennox's physical strength stacks up to George's.) Stander, Bonavena and Chuvalo were also extremely strong heavyweights who had some success forcing Joe into retreat or neutralizing him by stonewalling to little avail.

It seems to me that Lennox was typically more reactive than proactive, not a particularly good mindset to bring against Smoke. Stopping Joe meant beating the hell out of him. As for winning on points, only prime Ali was ever able to do this, and it took the fastest and best 1970s version of Muhammad to pull it off.

 

I never used to think that myself but watching more and more of Frazier pre Ali 1, he was just fantastic. Look at his bout with Ron Stander. He looked sluggish and his ass was as wide as a middle aged woman who had many children in their 20's and had let herself go years ago.

His bouts with Ali were good shows but Joe after FOTC just didn't look the same as pre FOTC Joe, to me anyway. The Frazier that entered to ring with George, as far as I'm concerned was shot but if not shot then well past his best days.

How he pulled out what he did against Ali in NY and in Manila, I have no clue, but to me he just was not the same fighter. Maybe it's because Ali had slowed a bit himself and was never a really big puncher so Joe was able to last and put up a good fight.

Perhaps saying he was shot is a bit much, but I can see no way anybody could claim he wasn't at least past it.

 

In all honesty I don't think Frazier gets close enough to do any long lasting damage, as soon as he gets within range Lewis will be smart enough to push him away (ala Foreman) or tie him up and lean on him (which will do a lot to drain Frazier's stamina).

And if he does manage to get inside Frazier's susceptibility to the uppercut would play right into Lewis' hands.

 

Fair enough. Good post. :good

 

Yeah, Lewis has been taken out with one punch twice. Good chance of him being stopped from sustained punishment or one big left hook. Frazier ability to slip punches is very underrated by some people. Ali said Frazier was the hardest guy to hit that he ever fought.

 

I think that people throw word shot around way too much. Frazier was not shot in '73.

 

So would you say Frazier was prime and the same fighter he was from 65-71?

 

So its your opinion that Frazier was the same in 73 as he was in 65-71. Thanks.