Heavyweight Fantasy Fight: Joe Frazier vs Mike Tyson
Published: Mar 07 2009 by: Jake Emen
Who would win in a battle between two former heavyweight champions, the classic workman Joe Frazier or the explosive Mike Tyson? With similar styles and similar physiques, the match up is an oft-discussed dream for many boxing fans. The Mike Tyson vs Joe Frazier matchup is the 3rd in our segment of fantasy & dream boxing matchups provided exclusively by ProBoxing-fans.com.
The Fighters:
"Smokin'" Joe Frazier
- 32 (27) – 4 – 1
- Height 5'11" Reach: 73" Prime weight: 210 lbs
- Heavyweight title reign: 4 successful defenses, including win over Muhammad Ali
"Iron" Mike Tyson
- 50 (44) – 6
- Height: 5'10" Reach: 71" Prime weight: 220 lbs
- Heavyweight title reign: 2-time champion with 10 successful defenses
Frazier vs Tyson
Joe Frazier only lost to two men in his career, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. Tyson fans point to the Foreman bouts, where Frazier was routed and repeatedly knocked down as evidence that Tyson too would be able to hurt and knock out Frazier. However, Frazier's chin was actually quite good, as the Ali bouts demonstrate. Additionally, Foreman was a bigger – if less explosive – puncher than Mike Tyson, and more importantly, he was a much larger man.
Tyson and Frazier were essentially the same size, with Tyson being more heavily muscled and Frazier owning a slightly longer reach. And a young Mike Tyson deployed many of the signature tactics of Smokin' Joe. He would bob and weave, slip inside and unleash a ferocious left hook.
One of the many classic boxing axioms though is that you don't hook with a hooker. It means that when one fighter throws a great hook, you shouldn't try to trade hooks with him, because his will surely land quicker, truer and harder. While Tyson's left hook was lethal, Frazier's left hook was one of the best heavyweight weapons of all time.
Joe Frazier also had an indomitable will – George Foreman had to knock him down six times in their first meeting to stop him. Mike Tyson on the other hand was a classic frontrunner, and could be bullied out of his game plan. He didn't like it when people stood up to him, and he crumbled under the returned pressure. And pressure is what he would face from Joe Frazier (unlike what he faced from Marvis Frazier, Joe's son and mainly a cruiserweight fighter whom Tyson knocked out in 1 round).
Frazier would get into Tyson's face and would slip the majority of his shots. While the first half of the fight would see action going both ways, by the middle rounds Tyson would begin to be worn down and frustrated. Even if Tyson landed a solid and clean blow, Frazier would not be deterred. He would have to be knocked out cold to stop coming forward.
Frazier would continue to work on Tyson, alternating between digging body shots and vicious hooks to the head. Eventually, one of these hooks would be too much for Tyson to handle, and he'd go down for the count of 10 somewhere around the eighth or ninth round.
Joe Frazier had a more complete game than Mike Tyson, and a superior mental composition for an encounter such as this. In this proposed contest between two former heavyweight champions, Joe Frazier would win via knockout over Mike Tyson.
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Tags: fantasy fight, joe frazier, mike tyson
There would be a lot of clinching and grabbing in this fight by Tyson to slow Joe’s constant activity. But I believe he would not have a problem hurting Joe inside. I just think Mike was a little too strong and too big for Joe. Joe was 200 pounds at his prime. Tyson was 220 and up and still solid. And Joe’s right hand wasn’t as effective as his left. Tyson had power in both hands.
Tyson in 5. Similar to his fight with Ferguson.
Fair assessment with a few personal exceptions.
1) In his prime, Tyson (like all greats) also had a phenomenal will. The two fights with Razor Ruddock was a good example of this, and a reminder that it is the pairing up of the right fighters to make a fight (e.g. Ali/Frazier, holyfield/bowe, hagler/leonard). Unfortunately, Mike’s prime ended too quickly and he is too often measured for his post-prime fights. Also, during Mikes prime his determination to take out his opponent was like we have never seen prior…under Customato, Mike’s mission was clear – Win!
2) Please do not underestimate the power of a strong upper-cut…and there were not many out there better than Tysons. A well connected upper-cut can shake the brain up for an easy 10 seconds, and Mike demonstrates this about 20 times in his pro career.
3) I personally do not think that Tyson would have a problem with any fighter in his general size category. His compact bull-like stature positioned him for a well grounded attacked that few fighters would have been able to understand. The power of his punches coming in from that low center of gravity is not something any fighter would have trained for, particulary in Fraziers error.
With this said, I am Philly native and love Frazier and think he could pull of some wins if he fought Tyson many times. But, I’d have to go with Tyson for the majority of those wins.
The Joe Frazier of March 8, 1971 was one of the top 3 Heavyweights of all-time. Muhammad Ali fought a. Fantastic fight. That night and lost decisively! Frazier was a technician in the ring.His stamina in 71 was as good as. Anyone in. History. Period. His heart was incredible. Tyson was a great fighter. Too. But he was taylor-made for Joe. Frazier was a legitimate 5’11 1/2″ tall. I. Met Tyson. He’s 5’10″ at the most. Joe had the longer reach by 2 or more inches. Take nothing away from Tyson he’s. In. My top 8 heavyweights of all time. But Frazier in the Fight of the. Century was too much for. Almost anyone in the history of. Boxing. Ali of 1966 and George Foreman of 1973 were the. Only two who could’ve beaten Joe that magical night of. March 8, 1971.
Tyson doesn’t even come close to Joe Frazier in the willpower department. Can you imagine Tyson willing himself up off the canvas after being dribbled by Foreman? Can you see Tyson pushing himself on blind and half to death, ala the Thrilla in Manila?
Mike Tyson never — not at any time in his entire career — had that sort of thing in him. Period.
alltough i mostly agree with everything you wrote i most strongly disagree with the outcome.. being a fan of joe i have to say mike tyson is the wrong match up for joe. styles make fights remember that. and like i said everything you wrote is true you forgot the most important thing (or 2 things) first of all joe was a very slow starter it took him a while to get smokin. while iron mike was a notorious fast starter.
second thing is alltough tyson is the same size as joe and not as big as george foreman his stength is about the same. mike was way way faster then foreman (a prime tyson was one of the fastest heavyweights ever) and his punches where much more accurate. not those wild swinging loops that george did. so conclusion is : joe has the better will/mental power and stamina. tyson has more punching power and speed and i think mike was also the better ring general (compared to joe)
well mike tyson is a great fighter but who won?
Joe Frazier he only took two and zero one lost to muhamad ali and another to george foreman yeah oh lets do it waka flocka flame
seems a fair conclusion though i think with some of the early fights of mike tyson he obviously had a ton of power and in fights such as against bowe he was able to out punch him and win even though he was pretty shot, he also beat a ton of huge heavyweights even in his old age like bryan neson, frank bruno ect, while Friazer got knocked down a few times such as against george cuvallo (twice i think) in his prime, also tyson had a much better variety of punches and technique (straight right, uppercut, left hook ect) than friazer so i see tyson probably winning by knockout, and if tyson didnt knock out fraizer he would have gassed out and been knocked out by fraizer by about 9th round
Actually joe was floored twice by oscar bonavena in their first fight.
Jake Emen you don’t know shit about boxing if you think Joe could beat Mike.First of all, Joe bob and weaving was primitive compared To Cus D’Amato bob and weaving.Tyson only performed Cus bob and weaving while he still trained under Rooney.Tyson had more handspeed,more footspeed,more power,better combinations,better head movement and he could use angles.Joe was just a straightforward swarmer vulnerable to straights and uppercuts.Tyson would destroy Joe.And Joe got floored by Oscar Bonavena and other guys too.
WOW that would be a great fight for as long as it lasts and i think you called this fantasy fight right, frazier has a great left hook and he could slip punches very well and like ya said a great will you got to allmost kill him to stop him Yyson is no doubt a very quick handed hard hitting fighter but it would be ATG Smokeing Joe Frazier by 7th rd tko– GOOD STUFF!
For the guy that posted above as Cus D’Amato, you obviously must be a Tyson fan. You have your biased opinions, nothing wrong with that. Still, I wouldn’t disrespect Cus D’Amato by using his name to post your opinions and I question your knowledge of the sport if you attach the word “primitive” to Joe Frazier.
First of all, I will definitely credit Tyson as one of the greatest of all time along with Ali, Frazier and Foreman. In fact, I strongly believe if Cus had lived through Mike’s title reign, he’d arguably be near the top of the heavyweight rankings. He would have surpassed Marciano’s 49-0 and probably doesn’t fool around with Robbin Givens or Desiree Washington.
I believe Frazier would beat him. Why? Tyson doesn’t even come close to having the gas tank or the heart of Frazier. Frazier gets better as the fight goes on while Mike’s best work comes in the early rounds. Mike doesn’t have the size advantage or the power that Foreman had when he destroyed Frazier in 1973. Aside from the fact that any smart boxing fan knows that Big George didn’t beat the same conditioned fighter that dominated the late 1960s and beat Ali in the fight of the century. Frazier grossly underestimated Foreman’s size and power and according to Eddie Futch was partying way too much in Jamaica.
As for the fight itself, Mike puts Frazier on the canvas early once or twice in the first couple of rounds. His frustration would get the better of him because he’d watch Joe get up and continue to work on his body. Tyson might survive the middle rounds, but I see Joe stopping him a little sooner than Holyfield did, perhaps around the 9th or 10th round.
You should watch the FOTC and see how many jabs and straight rights Ali misses against Frazier, especially in the middle rounds. Ali did land quite a few punches early on but Frazier still made him miss.