Is Smokin Joe Frazier underrated

Whenever the past Heavyweight champions are talked about very rarely does Joe Frazier get a look in, here is a fighter who was only ever beaten by 2 men in his career Ali and Foreman.
Frazier's legacy I feel suffers from the 2 defeats he had to Foreman,yet Frazier beat Ali in the so called fight of the century and gave Ali IMO the hardest fights of his career.
Lets take a look at Smokin Joe's career, beat Bonevena,Quarry ,Ali,Chuvalo,Mathis,Ellis,Chuvalo was only ever stopped twice in a 90 odd fight career Frazier been one of the fighters to do it,Mathis was unbeaten going into the fight with Smokin Joe but was Tko'd in round 11,Mathis was another fighter who was only ever stopped twice in his career,the great Light Heavyweight Bob Foster moved up a weight to challenge Frazier and was blown away in round 2 a tremendous left hook ending the fight.Frazier was comprehensively beaten in his 2 fights with the awsome Foreman but no one else managed to beat Joe so easily not even the great Ali.
Joe Frazier could hit hard with either hand but IMO had one of the best left hooks in Heavyweight history I believe you put Smokin Joe in any era and he is a nightmare for anyone I think Joe Frazier is vastly underrated.

Slightly I think he is because he beat some quality heavyweights in Quarry, Bugner, Ali and Ellis.......but he's defined more for losing to Ali and Foreman......

However he's highly rated by all but perhaps is overshadowed somewhat..

He has one great win, which was avenged twice (although he lost in style both times) and two absolute one sided batterings.

Outside of this he has lots of good wins but nothing truly remarkable. Head to head he's a nightmare for anybody, any era, but he happened to be active in the toughest era of heavyweight history and was below the level of Ali and Foreman. He usually seems to be borderline top ten, I think that's about right.

What has Holmes done that was truly remarkable or Louis, Dempsey or Johnson!!...

Can't just apply this criteria to Frazier..

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:What has Holmes done that was truly remarkable or Louis, Dempsey or Johnson!!...

Can't just apply this criteria to Frazier..

could apply it to nearly every heavy in truth. only ali has done the spectacular at heavy by toppling foreman whilst past it. not that many incredibly outstanding wins on too many heavies cvs even louis who is arguably on a par to ali (though i dont agree) lost to the best he faced. regardless of being past it.

I also think Frazier is rated just about fairly, if he was let loose on any other era i don't think he would be any better off.

I have always been a big fan of Lennox Lewis but the 2 defeats on his career are by 2 very average fighters yet Lewis is regarded well above Frazier who's only losses are to 2 great heavyweights, does a Rahman or a McCall beat Frazier no chance IMO.

Frazier beats nearly any other fighter from any era.....

Ali and Foreman are two top 5 heavyweights for god sake...

Come on...he dominates any other era bar Tyson and maybe Louis..

Louis v Frazier pickem for me.

Personally I see Louis' style being a bad one for Frazier. The strong jab, the combos, and the way it was footwork that really troubled Louis. He handled really heavy handed guys like Baer without much trouble. Never beaten by a guy over 200lbs. Worth pointing out that if you don't get Frazier outta the way early you're in for a hellish night, no matter who you are. Frazier's heart vs Louis' killer instinct...

Frazier's defeat by Ali in the second fight wasn't a bad loss,Ali was allowed to get away with a lot of holding around the head.I do think though that Frazier would never have got the better of Foreman however many times they fought,but a good exiting fighter who always put on a good show.

Louis was small compared to Frazier though and Louis wasn't great backing off...

Marciano bullied Louis....Frazier beats Marciano for me.....

Sure Louis was past it against Rocky but he never fought anyone as relentless....

Frazier and Louis can't split them...

Foreman takes louis early however....much too big and strong and Louis could be found.....He'd only need to be found once...

A little exaggeration there surely? Holmes, Lewis, Bowe, Tyson, Holyfield and his triple jab. Vitali gives him a handful at the very least, Even some of the fringe contenders, Tua, Ibeabuchi, and about half of Tysons opponents at their best. Thats only the recent ones, there also Liston and any of the small heavies such as Dempsey - fantastic footwork, big hitters and accurate. Louis - probably the most technically gifted fighter of all time with power and precision to match beats frazier eight times out of ten. On another note why does he get a free pass against Foreman who mullered him, when you hold the hearns loss against Duran?

unsure truss for me. 70/30 to louis
dont think that joe f has it to beat him on points but i think he has a pretty decent shot to take out louis who always appeared to be a rather slow starter and could get tagged at any moment by that left hook.
though im unsure that louis could deal with the constant pressure that frazier would exert the only person i can think of that louis fought that gave him the same was marciano. though he was past it so perhaps not a fair assessment.
cant think of anyone off the top of my head that gave him a pressure fight in the style frazier would have with the kind of power frazier had aswell. perhaps windy can help!

True, Louis and Frazier have plenty of problems to give each other, I lean towards Louis' stiff punching from the outside and how hittable Frazier could be.

The reason I'd pick Marciano over Frazier is that Frazier's money punch (the left hook) leaves him open for Marciano's much straighter right hand. It might seem a simplistic way to look at things but Frazier's most powerful weapon leaves him vulnerable to Marciano's.

Marciano would always give Louis hell, but Louis was so shot at that point, and still impressed in the early rounds. I fear, as with Liston, the ramrod jab spells the end for most swarmers.