Would JOE FRAZIER 71 beat LARRY HOLMES 78 in much the same manner he handled ALI in "The Fight of the Century"

Question

Would JOE FRAZIER 71 beat LARRY HOLMES 78 in much the same manner he handled ALI in "The Fight of the Century"

Answer 1

Frazier would smoke Holmes. Frazier is one of the hardest puchers in the heavyweight divsion ever. Plus his Philly slump style versus that of Holmes would leaves Holmes scratching his head. Boxing is all about a matchup of styles and Holmes just doesn't match up to Frazier.

Answer 2

Frazier was a swarmer/ginder, not a big puncher on the level of say Foreman, but he grinded oppoents down with body shots, and he kept his power for a full 15 rounds.

Frazier would give Holmes problems for the same reason he gave Ali problems. Like Ali, Holmes was a pure boxer that needed distance to work, and Frazier would be all over him.

As the cliche saying goes, styles makes fights. Pressure fighters do good against pure boxers, but not good against big punchers, because walk right into the puncher's blasting range. That is why Frazier got straight up dealt with as kept walking into Foreman's massive fists and power. But Holmes did not even have a fraction of Foreman power, and neither did Ali.

However pure boxers can out-box the big punchers, which what Ali did to Liston, and then out-smarted Foreman.

Answer 3

larry holmes suffers the sameway lennox lewis does they fought has beens and bums though i think holmes was a much better fighter than lewis i think the fight might go the distance with frazier winning late rd tko or stoppage it would be a good fight though

Answer 4

I think Joe would win on a late round stoppage.Larry's jab and toughness, plus good power, would keep him in the fight, but this is Joe Frazier here, not Leon Spinks.It would be a close fight, however.

Answer 5

This one's easier than you think. First, lets take Frazier in 71 because he was never better. Frazier 67 would be stopped by Holmes and would have been by Ali had the fought when they were supposed to in 69. The exile stopped that.

As great as Ali was, I have always maintained that, because styles make fights, you can name 10 fighters whom ALi would beat and Holmes would beat them easier and more decisively. Ali would decision Holmes.

The reason Holmes would win easier is because he holds the same advantage over any fighter that Ali holds. Holmes is not as fast but fast enough to beat you the same way Ali would. He doesnt have Ali's foot work but enough to remain a step ahead of anyone else. Joe Louis would be the exception.

I think most who know can now agree that Larry, in 1980, was at his best. Like I've said many times, (someone once copied it word for word here), Holmes never knew what to expect from ALi so he was at his best at that time.

Frazier gets a lot of credit for his win over Ali but what has he REALLY done besides the win over ALI. He has accomplished some things but look at his career minus the Ali win and you will see a MUCH better view of how he measures up against other champions.

Ali was a bit past his prime when he lost to Frazier. By this time, his foot work wasn't much better than Holme's would be. He took a slightly better punch but he had a better jab than Ali. Prime Ali was faster but Holmes was closer to equal to ALI 71. The difference is that Holmes hit quite a bit harder.

Any way you can see Ali beating an opponent Holmes would do the same but easier. Ali had the one style Holmes would not be able to deal with. Ali 67 would keep Holmes off balance and take a decision. Ali 71 and beyond is a different story. Larry was much closer in terms of ability.

Larry would hit Joe At LEAST as often as Ali did. The difference is that Larry would hit him harder. Joe would have his moments but look at all the damage Ali did to him.

I MAINTAIN THAT EVEN FORMAN WOULD NOT HAVE CRUSHED FRAZIER SO EASILY HAD FRAZIER NEVER FOUGHT ALI FIRST.

That fight took A LOT out of Frazier. Joe was never the same.

Larry would do the same kind of damage, only more of it.

Holmes by TKO in 14

Answer 6

Frazier knocks Holmes out in 8 rounds one of the guys above me had the first fight between Ali and Frazier with ALI WINNING ON POINTS i DON,T KNOW WHAT FIGHT YOU WERE WATCHING BUT FRAZIER WON THAT FIGHT BIG IT was not close I love Ali but Frazier won that fight by going to the body I don,t know how Ali took it and everyone remembers the knock down but it was the body work that took it,s tole on Ali. Ali waqs not ready for that kind of fight remember AQli had been away from boxing for 3 years and he had not faced anyone close to Frazier in his come back and it showed but Ali showed the heart of a lion because he took a beating in thaty fight.Think about the left hook Tyson hit Holmes with Now think what a young Frazier would have hit Holmes with

Answer 7

The old classic boxer vs slugger matchup here. Holmes had his educated jab and Frazier had that meat cleaver for a left hook always coming forward.  This would be a lot like Frazier's fight's with Ali and his style always gave Ali problems.  I believe that the early rounds would be mostly Holmes rounds with Frazier looking to get inside of Larry's jab.  In the middle rounds Frazier would start connecting to the body and head of Holmes and even send Larry to the canvas for a brief count in round 8.  Larry would survive the round and fight back hard.  In the championship rounds of an even fight, Frazier would prevail particularly in the last two rounds and pull out the close decision victory.

Answer 8

This is not a simple question with a simple answer.  First, if you've watch the first Frazier - Ali fight you would realize that the entire country came to a standstill.  The only chance Ali had of winning the fight based on the racial overtone of the day, was to knock Frazier out.  As it was and if you've read and seen specials on the fight, it's clear that Ali won the fight 8-6-1even including the knock down.  As history would show in the two remaining fights, Ali was, by far, the better fighter.

Now, as for Larry Holmes, his misfortune was to be at his prime during a very down time in the heavy weight class.  To his credit, he beat all those who challenged him during his prime years.  None of which were the quality of a prime Frazier or a prime Ali.  Holmes caught Ali at the very end of his career.

Finally, Frazier would have knocked Holmes out within 10 rounds.  Holmes would have had no chance of catching Frazier.

Answer 9

Frazier would kill holmes.