January 2002 - July 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

(because of the big money they couldn't get from anyone else).Big George
was worried about taking the fight and he was a big underdog. Foreman said that
before the fight he stood in the ring and Frazier was glaring at him. He hoped
that Frazier kept glaring at him in the eyes so that his gaze didn't drift down
to his knees which were shaking.Foreman winning was a major, major
upset. Fans thought that Frazier was indestructible because he'd beaten Ali.
People never envisaged that Foreman would win. It was a huge shock for everyone,
including Frazier. One of the biggest upsets of all time, especially the scale
of the loss with Frazier being knocked down so many times.The scale of
the loss scared the heck out of Joe. When they fought the second time years
later, Frazier looked frightened out of his skin. But, then again, who could
blame him.|
|1/6/05 05:43:25 AM|Kent|La Habra, Ca||kentallenent@aol.com||||10|As I have said
before regarding Foreman verses Frazier, it makes sense that a big puncher like
Foreman should jump on Frazier and try to hurt him early in the fight as Frazier
was always a slow starter. It took Frazier often three rounds to be truly
warmed up, in fact Frazier lost the first round and often the first two rounds
in all of his major fights against Ellis, both fights, against Ali all three
fights, against Quarry, both fights, and against Mathis, as well as suffering
two knockdowns verses Bonevena in the second round. However, no one expected
that if Joe was hurt or even knocked down that he would not get back up and put
the hurt on Foreman. Who would have believed going into the Foreman fight that
Frazier aggresively moving in would not work as it had worked against everyone
else up to that point?I just watched Frazier's first fight with Bonevena
and Bonevena had Joe badly hurt, especially after the second knockdown. There
was over a minute left in the second round and for some reason, Bonevena didn't
press the action enough after this second knockdown, otherwise Frazier would
have been a knockout victim. Bonevena let Frazier off of the hook, maybe
Bonevena tired and couldn't muster another knockdown, which with the three
knockdown rule in effect it would have given Bonevena the win. After this,
Frazier aggresively won enough rounds to pull out a split decision
win.That Frazier was badly hurt against Bonevena after the second
knockdown can be seen by the post fight interview in which Frazier said he
didn't even remember the second knockdown.There was no way Foreman, a
big finishier, would have let Frazier back into the fight like Bonevena did, as
seen by Foreman's knockouts over Frazier. Foreman is the exception in
my top five rankings in that at any time, especially early in the fight he had
the power to get anyone out of there. I rank him number four because the styles
of the fighters ahead of him could enable those figthters, Ali, Louis, and
Holmes to get out of the early rounds to be able to defeat Foreman.Some
may say that it makes sense that Ali and Holmes at their best could stay outside
and avoid Foreman's power but not Joe Louis as he would stand right in front of
Foreman, thereby being a prime target for Foreman's power. However, I see Louis
beating Foreman to the punch with his very quick and powerful, extremely
accurate combinations to take the play away from Foreman. Some may also
say that Ali didn't stay away from Foreman's power because he used the "rope a
dope" but in effect he did stay away from Foreman's power because he even though
he was in close with Foreman, he was giving Foreman angles to make Foreman miss
or at least take some of the power away from the punches that did land. Ali was
also counter punching to keep Foreman honest.When I say Ali could have
stayed away outside of Foreman's power, I am talking about an in prime
Ali. |
|1/6/05 05:44:39 AM|Dikembe|Roma||4||||10|Of course, the fear worked like a fire
for Foreman in Kingstone ! |
|1/6/05 05:56:05 AM|Massimo |Roma||4||||10|Kent-How did you score the
first Frazier-Bonavena fight ? I think Frazier probably won by 1 or 2 points,
even if a draw wouldn't have been a scandal.|