Comments Thread For: Culled from Canastota: Five Who Should Lose Hall Pass

[irish mike]

To beat the all-time best at his prime its not enough to be in the Hall???

Your in my idiot writers HOF for sure!

[Latim]

Joe Frazier was way undersized for a heavyweight. In fact he'd probably have fought as a cruiser weight in modern times. I really can't take this person seriously to say that Joe Frazier doesn't belong in the Hall of fame.

[troy902]

wtf?

Cuevas not allowed!!!!! Dude, he had 12 title defenses in 4 yrs. 11 by ko,, he destroyed alot of sturdy fighters! not bad for someone who earlier in his career was 7-5....come on get a grip pal!!!!!!

[emhoffk]

I have a few questions Lyle. How long did you actually take to prepare this article? Did you really write this in good faith or were you just trying to get people stirred up?

Clearly, in putting Frazier on the list you knew there would objections. If you were truly looking for the five least deserving inductees of the IBHOF - Frazier is not anywhere near the top of the list. Why? Gee Muhammad Ali is only considered by most experts as the greatest heavyweight of all time. Frazier was not only the first to beat him but also in subsuquent rematches gave him hell. Yes, Foreman dominated Frazier, but Lyle - that's it. Frazier was only beaten by two of the best heavyweights of all-time and he beat an Ali who was close to his prime. Honestly, Ali's prime years were wasted in the courtroom but that's not Frazier's fault and Ali proved he had plenty left in the tank in the years subsequent. Frazier also beat Quarry and Ellis when they were considered the top heavyweights in the world besides him. He then beat Ali to prove that he was indeed the baddest man on the planet.

If you had done even a cursory amount of research (like just browsing who the inductees are) you can see that Ingemar Johansson is in the IBHOF. Johansson has a win over Machen and a win over Patterson and maybe a few wins over some decent Euro heavies and that's it. You really think Ingo deserves to be in there over Frazier?

How about guys like Bobo Olson, Curtis Cokes, Eddie Perkins, Lazlo Papp, Edwin Rosario, Barry McGuigan or Lew Jenkins - did any of these guys beat the greatest fighter that their division produced? Did they only lose fights to top ten all-time greats in their division? Papp didn't even win a world title in the pros. Jenkins won 70 fights and lost 41 - only made one successful title defense. Olson got his azz handed to him four times by Sugar Ray Robinson, including twice by KO AFTER Robinson made his comeback. How many HOF's did Perkins, Rosario and McGuigan beat? Lyle - bad call on Frazier.

[Canelo Phresh]

never understood this joe frazier hate thrend going on.

[Visceral]

Start @0:12, rinse, and repeat. This fact that this guy gets paid to write this absolute trash is very depressing. His salary could go to many better uses, like anything. Nothing but a disrespectful hack.

[El Jesus]

this is one of the worst articles i have ever read, this is up there with the "pacquiao has no news so well create some news" articles that come from ronnie. this is just all around terrible and not even work breaking down.

[New England]

Joe Frazier was way undersized for a heavyweight. In fact he'd probably have fought as a cruiser weight in modern times. I really can't take this person seriously to say that Joe Frazier doesn't belong in the Hall of fame.

joe frazier would outwork // land the cleaner and more effective punches on current vitali

and knock wladimir out and probably end his career


the man was no CW.
steven cunningham?
marco huck?

they dont call that boxing they call that murder.
you'd have to take a shower after you watched those fights

[!! Shawn]

Its called the hall of fame, not the hall of exceptional greatness. Its to immortalize people who made a significant contribution to the sport either through the performances they put on, or through their skill. Its not an either or thing.

Lyle, you should honestly be ashamed of yourself.

[TheGreatA]

He belongs in the hall of fame. The opponents he beat with relative ease, such as Jimmy Ellis and Jerry Quarry, are borderline hall of famers.

Frazier proved himself an elite heavyweight by beating arguably the greatest heavyweight of all time in the greatest heavyweight fight of all time. Afterwards he was never the same, but we can hardly take out a man's best victory. Do that to a lot of HOFers and they won't look so great.

Considering that Lyle Fitzsimmons views Sven Ottke as a hall of famer, you could give everyone a pass, including Barry McGuigan who did atleast beat one great fighter even if he was washed up. Can't say the same for Sven.