I am watching/rewatching fights of the Past Greats

[XionComrade]

Already seen all of Frazier's
Tons of courage and balls of steel, lacked a great defense but compensated for it with tremendous heart and courage, had a great offense almost like watching a man chop down a tree with a axe. One well placed power shot after another. Perfect 15 round near non-stop stamina.

Almost done with Sonny Liston
Awesome power. Similar to Foreman, but much much better boxing techniques. Short prime, much like Frazier, peaked in the two Williams' fights IMO. Did very well against taller/bigger opponents, had some trouble landing on smaller faster one. Brings up a point to me that all of you that keep complaining about Heavyweight's of the past fighting smaller fighters 180-190ish are just full of it. The little guys Liston is fighting are much slicker than ANY bigger 220+ fighter except Muhammad Ali early on and that poses a huge problem for any power puncher.
Good defense, all time great offense. Always pressuring and attacking. Awesome stamina, goes 15 rounds with ease and doesn't even tire. Of course a KO jab that is used often. And a awesome chin, showed against tremendous punching Cleveland Williams

Next is Rocky Marciano, I cannot wait. Possibly the most underrated of all of the heavyweight greats.

[Barn]

Frazier's lack of defense was fine as like you said he had the stamina to keep on going the whole fight so was never in a defensive situation as he was always attacking. He did have good bobbing and weaving though.

[The_Demon]

Totally agree about Frazier,he was an absolute beast and i find his style a joy too watch,i think its safe to say he would be dominating the scene if he was around today,terrible style match up for the klits,especially wlad

[jose_palooka]

''Next is Rocky Marciano, I cannot wait. Possibly the most underrated of all of the heavyweight greats.''

Very interesting comment. Back in the 60s and 70s many people thought Marciano was among the very best. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, thought of him as being underrated in those days because of all the fame he enjoyed. Yet today, over 30 years later people hardly ever mention his name anymore when they are considering who was the best or near best Heavy of all time.

Strange how time has a way of changing people's views on things.

[jose_palooka]

''Frazier,he was an absolute beast and i find his style a joy too watch,i think its safe to say he would be dominating the scene if he was around today''

Not sure this is true. In his prime Smokin Joe weighed 205 lbs which means he weighed the same as most cruiserweights today. By contrast, today's heavies are in the 240 lb class. They are considerably bigger and harder hitting than those greats of Joe's era. Therefore, I do not believe he would have been much of a success in the heavies though he certainly would excel at junior heavies.

[CarlosG815]

''Next is Rocky Marciano, I cannot wait. Possibly the most underrated of all of the heavyweight greats.''

Very interesting comment. Back in the 60s and 70s many people thought Marciano was among the very best. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, thought of him as being underrated in those days because of all the fame he enjoyed. Yet today, over 30 years later people hardly ever mention his name anymore when they are considering who was the best or near best Heavy of all time.

Strange how time has a way of changing people's views on things.

Marciano - Walcott 1 - one of my favorite fights, you should start with that one, it is epic in every sense of the word and I never use that word.

I have watched it more times than I can count, it shouldn't disappoint you. I love everything about Rocky. Distinguished gentleman, very classy, and always entertaining and ruthless.

[CarlosG815]

Frazier's lack of defense was fine as like you said he had the stamina to keep on going the whole fight so was never in a defensive situation as he was always attacking. He did have good bobbing and weaving though.

I could watch Joe Frazier all day. Aside from FOTC I enjoy his first bout with Jimmy Ellis the most. No idea why, but I can watch it over and over.

Thinking about these old greats makes me sad there is nobody in the sport that can come close to matching the hype, or entertain in the same fashion.

[Wild Blue Yonda]

''Frazier,he was an absolute beast and i find his style a joy too watch,i think its safe to say he would be dominating the scene if he was around today''

Not sure this is true. In his prime Smokin Joe weighed 205 lbs which means he weighed the same as most cruiserweights today. By contrast, today's heavies are in the 240 lb class. They are considerably bigger and harder hitting than those greats of Joe's era. Therefore, I do not believe he would have been much of a success in the heavies though he certainly would excel at junior heavies.

Some will say Frazier wasn't big enough to win it today --- I will contend the fellas today weren't good enough to beat Frazier. In the end, you have to match up how much better Frazier was against how much bigger today's Heavies are, & while the size difference is quite noticeable, it is even more noticeable, & more stark, how severely the skill-sets, talent, & above all, conditioning have all dropped.

Frazier gives up a hill in size to today's Heavyweights. Today's Heavyweights give up a mountain of the above-mentioned qualities to Frazier.

Frazier would be champion today, I'm sure of it. He would quite readily dispose of everyone short of the current champion, Wlad Klitschko, & while I think that could well prove a difficult fight (there is a reasonably fair chance Frazier decks him early & finishes it, IMO), I do not see a scenario in which Klitschko emerges the likely victor, herego, Frazier conquers today's division. When you get down to it, he is simply too much the better fighter to lose to 99% of these guys on size alone (& to me, size is the only real advantage this awful division has on Frazier).

[jose_palooka]

Back in the 60s we had several shows that would replay some old fights. among them were ''Knockout'' and ''Box''. I watched several fights of Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles, Jersey Joe Walcott, and Rocky Marciano. This as well as those of Sugar Ray Robinson, Rocky Graziano, and Kid Gavilan of Bolo Punch fame. I have seen at least one hundred fights from Jack Johnson's to Joey Giardello's eras. And what fights they were!!

[CarlosG815]

Some will say Frazier wasn't big enough to win it today --- I will contend the fellas today weren't good enough to beat Frazier. In the end, you have to match up how much better Frazier was against how much bigger today's Heavies are, & while the size difference is quite noticeable, it is even more noticeable, & more stark, how severely the skill-sets, talent, & above all, conditioning have all dropped.

Frazier gives up a hill in size to today's Heavyweights. Today's Heavyweights give up a mountain of the above-mentioned qualities to Frazier.

Frazier would be champion today, I'm sure of it. He would quite readily dispose of everyone short of the current champion, Wlad Klitschko, & while I think that could well prove a difficult fight (there is a reasonably fair chance Frazier decks him early & finishes it, IMO), I do not see a scenario in which Klitschko emerges the likely victor, herego, Frazier conquers today's division. When you get down to it, he is simply too much the better fighter to lose to 99% of these guys on size alone (& to me, size is the only real advantage this awful division has on Frazier).

I agree...