Wlad Klitschko v. Joe Frazier

I'll give you the Wild Swinging 4 round stamina..
But Young George Foreman don't need 4 rounds against a Wlad.
IMO, Wlad does not have a decent chin enough to withstand 1 GF Bomb.

1990 Big George would prob "Cooney" Wlad
I'd take Tommy Morrison against Wlad aswell.

I like Klit bro, I'm just not convinced he can recover after getting hit.
his confidence vanishes and he want's to quit once he get's touched up.

 

Well, Wlad didn't seem too successful in starching Samual Peter, who is arguably slower, less skilled and lighter hitting. In fact I believe Wlad was dropped more than once in that fight before taking a decision, so Foreman certainly has my vote to score a knockout there.

 

It depends if Vlad fights a carefull fight or trys to land early...Putting an early hurt on Joe is his best chance because Joe had great stamina and could work the body, bringing down the arms....Vlad must be carefull but has to open up on Joe early...to keep him honest

 

A ripping left hook from Frazier, certainly could have reaked havock on Klitschko, but the key here, is that Joe would have to land that left first. In this case, he'd be facing the largest, and possibly the best conditioned fighter of his career, along with one who had a very polished left jab and power to compliment it. I don't think its impossible for Smoke to pull this one off, but he'd have to be at the top of his game to do it, and couldn't allow Wlad to land too often too early. Some of course will use Wlad's losses to Sanders and Brewster to try and seal the deal in a debate, but these comparisons are somewhat futal. Both Sanders and Brewster were a hell of a lot larger than Frazier was, and both were fighting what was probably a very complaicant Klitschko. Additionally, when making fantasy matchups, it usually the assumption that we are comparing two fighters at their absolute best. Wlad has clearly improved since those losses, so using them as a gauge to favor Frazier is not a very good beacon to apply.

 

I see this one going one of two ways, either Frazier getting Wlad out in the first 3 rounds, or Wlad systematically takes him apart and finishes him in the 7th or 8th, keeping him at bay with the huge left jab, Fraziers only chance is to get on the inside and rip Wlad apart, where Wlad doesnt even possess a decent uppercut to defend himself.

I think this fight is 50/50 for me, Frazier would need to be ultra aggressive, as well determined to get on the inside and create havoc, where Wlads only defense is clinching. If Frazier taps Wlads near glass chin, look for Wlad to panic and fall apart, but can the 5'11 Frazier do that? I dont know.

 

I'm not sure on this one, size difference is massive 6'6 to 5'11 and weight 240lbs to 205-215lbs. Joe Bugner was a big and durable guy at 6'4 and 220lbs and a reach similar to Wlads, but not in the same class as Wlad. I do not see Frazier being able to win on pts, he would have to get inside and land on Wlads chin, he did have 27 KOs in 32 wins so obviously had power but his size and an eight inch reach disadvantage may prove too much. I feel Frazier would be able to get inside to do some damage and win by stoppage in the first five rounds. However Wlad may take it on points or mid to late stoppage but I favour the former. It would also depend on Wlads gameplan imo as to whether he fought a cautious fight or came out aggressively ?

 

What is pivotal when giving mention of the theory that Frazier was susceptible to strong punchers is that only Foreman 'did him' because he had the perfect style to keep him in the firing range - if Frazier was stung against Wladimir the chances of him seeking salvage up-close and doing some of his own work would be far greater than it was against the brick wall that was George Foreman.

Frazier was not at his best, physically or mentally, for George, but the fight showed us that Joe needed to be nailed to the cross before he yielded, so in a bout with predicted mixed results on the exchanges, Ted Spoon would ultimately go for Frazier to keep up the pace and weed out the giants, less reliable, resistance to damage.

 

But this is simply not true.

Watch any of his big fights. Quarry, Ellis, Ramos, Bonavena, Ali, Foreman. They all couldn't miss Frazier's head during the first 3-4 rounds, but of those, only Foreman brought a shitload amount of hitting power to the table. So does Klitschko. He will have to impose himself early and when he does so, Joe will be in big trouble.

 

Wlad has the arsenal to beat Frazier emphatically. Wlad is one strong mother****er; Frazier is merely insistent. The former beats the latter in ring generalship.

Wlad puts Joe where he wants him, when he wants him, and blows him out in under 6 rounds.

 

I'd favour Frazier the Frazier who beat Ali against the current Wlad. Wlad at the moment is a very cautious fighter and rightly so with his well known problems with stamina and punch resistance. While it is very possible Wlad takes him out early, I doubt it as Wlad is simply too defensively minded these days. He would try to outbox Frazier in case one of those left hooks took him out.

Frazier had exceptional head movement and if he could get by Ali's jab he could get past Wlads. Most importantly Wlad has yet to develope the uppercut to add to his arsenal of punches to stop Fraziers ducking and rolling style.

Wlad out boxes Frazier early but eventually wilts under the sustained pressure that Frazier exerts over the course of the fight. If this was a 12 round fight then it's possible Wlad wins on points as he has developed the abilty to tie an opponent up and could very well surive the late onslaught Frazier would inevitably bring but I can't see Wlad lasting 15 rounds.

 

Without Foreman's shoves, Frazier would have lasted longer, without a doubt, and Foreman threw one combination after another with the right kind of punches. On the whole, Wladimir throws much straighter punches that Frazier could slip.

-There are many points here to differentiate.

 

Keyword here being could. Ali, Ellis and many others threw straight shots and landed plenty early on. The thing that seperates Foreman from Ali, Ellis, Bonavena, etc, is not his looping shots, but his power.

 

Foreman threw a boat load much punches than Wlad though, he was more aggressive. Wlad does hit harder than the fighters you mentioned but Fraziers chin isnt china so he doesnt get taken out easily

Given Wlads chin I'd say he was more susceptable to an early KO than Frazier. Frazier did get hit but he would also be landing his own shots in the process

 

Don't get me wrong, i'm not saying it's a 100% certainty that Frazier is out as quick as he was against Big George. I'm just saying that everyone landed hard shots early and Frazier is likely to be stunned/hurt/knocked down because of that, triggering a lot of aggression. Outside of Peter and Ibragimov recently (southpaw fear), he always went for the kill when the opponent was hurt. Brock, McCline, Byrd, etc.



As for Wlad being susceptible to an early knockout loss; he is, but Frazier does not really have big one-punch power needed for that. He wears his guys down. Bad stylistic matchup. Steward is a master trainer and will tell Wlad to be more aggressive. Frazier is not an iron chinned fighter with a big punch like Brewster or Peter, against whom it is better to be careful.

 

Wlad will do what he wants, Steward told wlad to KO ibragimov to no avail, and if steward is such a master trainer why didn't he teach Andy Lee to hold when he gets hurt:-D