He gets brutalized by George Foreman, beats Ali once and gives him a heck of a fight every other time they fought, and Ali pretty much punks Foreman easier than he ever beat Frazier.
So how does that work? Why could Ali beat the heck out of Foreman, winning by KO, yet had trouble stopping Frazier's advances?
Why wasn't Frazier able to stand against Foreman's punches, yet could take Ali's all night even though he KO'd foreman with those same punches?
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
It's the old adage of "styles make fights" at play, along with some gameplan/body type differences on top. Ali used his superior defense to exhaust Foreman, eliminating the power advantage as well as Foreman's ability to defend himself later.
Frazier wanted to apply pressure though, which is a liability against Foreman. Foreman doesn't care if you swarm him because he wanted you there anyway, so he can overwhelm you with his power.
However, that swarming style works well against technical fighters. You force them to fight an "ugly" fight where their technique and movement are stifled by your flurries and pressure. That's why Ali struggled more with Frazier, even losing once.
It's kind of like Pokemon types. Swarmer suffocates the Out-fighter. Out-fighter outmaneuvers the Slugger. Slugger overpowers the Swarmer.
It doesn't always work out like this since the best fighters will adapt though.
Last edited by StyleTime on Apr 26th, 2022 at 10:18 PM
I don't disagree, all great fighters too. For me, the "golden era" gets too much kudos. I can think of many more modern fighters I think would have beat all three but for the sacred cow legacy of that time.
Plus the fix was in back then. One of the Ali dram's heavily implied he took a fall for Frasier, showing his thoughts "Wait for it... Wait for it...", before taking it on the chin.
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.