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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.
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.
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