BoxRec

The great thing about the heavyweight division in the 1970s is that most of the intriguing match-ups actuall took place. But there were a few that did not. To wit:

Joe Frazier v. Ron Lyle

Joe Frazier v. Earnie Shavers

Joe Frazier v. Ken Norton

Ken Norton v. Ron Lyle

George Foreman v. Jerry Quarry

George Foreman v. Earnie Shavers

George Foreman v. Larry Holmes

Whom do you like?

Mr E wrote:The great thing about the heavyweight division in the 1970s is that most of the intriguing match-ups actuall took place. But there were a few that did not. To wit:

Joe Frazier v. Ron Lyle

Joe Frazier v. Earnie Shavers

Joe Frazier v. Ken Norton

Ken Norton v. Ron Lyle

George Foreman v. Jerry Quarry

George Foreman v. Earnie Shavers

George Foreman v. Larry Holmes

Whom do you like?

These are very interesting matchups, especially Frazier Lyle.

The fights that I have a strong opinion on who would win are

Larry Holmes vs. Foreman I see Larry beating him 100 out of 100 times. Larry simply outboxes him and eventually takes him out later in the fight around rounds 10-13.

Foreman vs Shavers Who hit harder? Who knows? I don't think that's important because Foreman will have cracked that acorn in the first round and had him unconscious in the 2nd.

Joe Frazier v. Ron Lyle. A great matchup. I’m one who truly believes that there was little to pick between Foreman and Lyle, as was evidenced by their see-saw slugfest. However, the main difference between the two was that Lyle fought more cautiously than George and often wasted his power advantage. While Lyle catching Joe early and stopping him is a distinct possibility, I think Lyle would have been too cautious to press early and would have been outworked by Joe either for a dec loss or maybe getting stopped late.

Joe Frazier v. Earnie Shavers. Joe was a slow starter and Shavers had a massive uppercut. Most will not agree, but I’d say Shavers by early KO.

Joe Frazier v. Ken Norton. A very good matchup, but Norton can’t quite handle the Frazier pressure and drops a close decision.

Ken Norton v. Ron Lyle. Even though he didn’t fight as aggressively as Foreman, Ron would still have caught Norton sometime before the end of the 6th and ref would stop the fight after Ken got dropped a few times.

George Foreman v. Jerry Quarry. Another close one with Quarry having success counter punching the aggressive Foreman. If Jerry could keep it up for about 5 rounds he’s got it in the bag. Unfortunately, the pressure that Foreman would have applied would have been too much and I see George stopping a battered Jerry sometime around the 6th or 7th round.

George Foreman v. Earnie Shavers. George by quick stoppage, although Shavers always had a chance.

George Foreman v. Larry Holmes. Holmes would have owned George. A few shaky moments, but Larry was just too smart and too fast for George.

I don't think Big George gets enough love. If Ali would have used a more conventional fight plan George would have won. It is to Ali's everlasting credit he didn't.

I don't think Holmes or anybody beats the pre-Zaire Big George.

A lot of this depends on when the matches take place. Foreman retired in '77, & anytime before that, I challenge someone to show me what experience Holmes has which permits him to survive. True, Foreman was a disinterested soul post-Zaire, but Holmes was a late-starting scrub-beater without world-class opposition in his win column, much less a Foreman-esque adversary. I think the fight only gets interesting in the last few months before Foreman's retirement. Holmes is too green before that, & God help him if he gets in the ring with Foreman before Zaire, having only turned pro the year before. For these two, their primes never coincided, even if their careers twice did.

The other matches are much the same. Quarry was past-it by the time Foreman had won the title --- the only time serious interest in that match came about. Lyle & Shavers, too, only came into their own once Foreman & Frazier had slipped.

I think each of these matches should carry a year (set by the thread starter) so we can start guessing accurately, because, even though they all shared the same decade, that's a long time in Boxing. Joe Frazier vs. Earnie Shavers, for instance, is not the same in 1976 as it is in 1971 or '72.

Quarry vs Foreman would have been interesting if Big George had gassed like he did against Ali and Young.
Foreman vs Holmes would have been Holmes' fight for the same reason.
Shavers vs Frazier would have been a knockout either way within the first few rounds.
Frazier knocks out Norton early
Lyle vs Norton would have made a good and close match as would Frazier vs Lyle.

Also the "Great White Hopes"... in combinations would have been marketable television in the '70s

-Jerry Quarry
-Joe Bugner
-Oscar Bonavena
-George Chuvalo
-Boone Kirkman
-Duane Bobick

Mr E wrote:The great thing about the heavyweight division in the 1970s is that most of the intriguing match-ups actuall took place. But there were a few that did not. To wit:

Joe Frazier v. Ron Lyle

Joe Frazier v. Earnie Shavers

Joe Frazier v. Ken Norton

Ken Norton v. Ron Lyle

George Foreman v. Jerry Quarry

George Foreman v. Earnie Shavers

George Foreman v. Larry Holmes

Whom do you like?

Should include my own guesses:

Frazier TKO 10 over Lyle in a war that could see Frazier on the canvas a couple times early on.

Frazier KO2 over Shavers -- Shavers won't take Frazier out with the first shot he lands and he will get hit. Thriller while it lasts.

Frazier TKO6 over Norton -- Frazier just too tough and too mean.

Lyle KO5 over Norton -- bad match-up for Ken.

Foreman KO4 over Quarry -- Quarry success against similar type sluggers Foster, Lyle, and Shavers doesn't translate like many think because he can't ring Foreman's bell with his counters the way he could with the others. Fight deteriorates into a brawl and Foreman overwhelms him.

Foreman KO1 over Shavers -- Splat!

Holmes W15 over Foreman -- Less competitive than many expect.

I think Foreman does better than Shavers does against Larry.....I think Larry might just be put to sleep in this one. I don't think Young's performance is a blueprint for how Larry performs. However the smart bet is probably Holmes UD......IF in this hypothetical the Zaire fight is in the history books. Because Larry would have learned by that event.

However if it's pre Zaire and no one has the hindsight of Ali's engineering I don't think Larry invents the wheel the way that Ali did. Ali was an inventor, Holmes was a technician.

I still wanna hear from someone which fights Holmes had taken part in between 76-77 which would make him a betting favourite against the experience of Foreman.

It's a difficult fight to predict, because Foreman's best had passed him (mentally, if not physically), but Holmes hadn't really fought anyone, & was seriously lacking fighting experience against even top-ten opposition, let alone an ex-champ of Foreman's still-dangerous calibre.

Mr E wrote:

Mr E wrote:The great thing about the heavyweight division in the 1970s is that most of the intriguing match-ups actuall took place. But there were a few that did not. To wit:

Joe Frazier v. Ron Lyle

Joe Frazier v. Earnie Shavers

Joe Frazier v. Ken Norton

Ken Norton v. Ron Lyle

George Foreman v. Jerry Quarry

George Foreman v. Earnie Shavers

George Foreman v. Larry Holmes

Whom do you like?

Should include my own guesses:

Frazier TKO 10 over Lyle in a war that could see Frazier on the canvas a couple times early on.

Frazier KO2 over Shavers -- Shavers won't take Frazier out with the first shot he lands and he will get hit. Thriller while it lasts.

Frazier TKO6 over Norton -- Frazier just too tough and too mean.

Lyle KO5 over Norton -- bad match-up for Ken.

Foreman KO4 over Quarry -- Quarry success against similar type sluggers Foster, Lyle, and Shavers doesn't translate like many think because he can't ring Foreman's bell with his counters the way he could with the others. Fight deteriorates into a brawl and Foreman overwhelms him.

Foreman KO1 over Shavers -- Splat!

Holmes W15 over Foreman -- Less competitive than many expect.

You have every fight just about right, imo.