Joe Frazier vs Oscar Bonavena I - Sept. 21, 1966 - Rounds 8 - 10 

A good trained Bonavena would give any heavyweight of any era a great fight. He was no joke

Bonavena was a great fighter. The heavyweight division was incredibly deep during that time. Great fighters 3, 4, 5 levels deep.

Grande luta !!! Óscar bonavena era um bom boxeador !!! 13/02/2020

This was as good a heavy weight bout as you would be likely to see. Two strong well matched big punchers battling hard from start to finish. And yes, a close decision at the end. It could have gone either way. These are the kind of heavyweights you don't see anymore, both willing to come forward and punch. Both of them would have been a formidable opponent for any modern heavyweight champion because of that style alone let alone the fact that they were both class boxers.

Dos fajadores inolvidables,de aquella época en que sí habían boxeadores entre los pesados.¡Gloria a ambos!! Carlos O. Pacheco

RIP Joe Frazier

Frazier kicked Ali's ass every time. If he hadn't been blind in one eye for the majority of his career, he would have knocked him out in the Thrilla.

@1899sharkey well im not sure.both styles had changed by this time.what do you think?[i think it would be a fast paced fight]who would win??

@1899sharkey Hey Sharkey,have you seen the J.Johnson vs. Fireman Flynn video here?i'd like to hear your opinion on it.I was pretty deflated,when i saw this guy that beat Dempsey in action.Of course i understood that it was alleged that this fight was a dive,but anyway take a look.thanx.ps.this same guy,Flynn, went the distance with the great Langford to make matters worse.Whats your take?

One can see that Frazier is one of the immortal heavyweights. Dunphy says none of Frazier's fights to this point had gone beyond the 3rd round yet his stamina is never in doubt. He is relentless and energy packed throughout, just like he was in his later fights. He always took his job seriously, was a consummate professional and had a single minded determination to become champion. '66 Frazier would beat '66 Ali easily. Chuvalo had Ali pissing blood this same year - Frazier would kill him.

@1899sharkey who are your top 5 boxers regardless of weight class?

Bonaveno got in some good shots

@1899sharkey ill watch him more,and get back to you.whats your opinion on Flynn?

Esta pelea la ganó largo Bonavena..

@1899sharkey thats valid as a criteria.you are old school exponent big time,and theres big basis for each choice..i like louis too.robinson might be fave,in fact he is.i like duran alot as well,maybe top 10 not top 5.old timers that were there always talk armstrong.i want to study him more as hes been mostly off my radar.refreshing you left ali off,hes off mine too.great but too flawed got beat up alot.thanx

Frasier is knocked down twice here while Ringo hardly lay a glove on Ali before being knocked out and saying after the fight that Ali was the better fighter, maybe Frasier pissed blood after this one....he always was a punch bag. One of the things all you guys forget about is Foreman......Frasier or Norton or anybody else for that matter...except Ali........wins the title and Foreman would have surely come along five minutes later to take it from them. All your arguments end right there.

@1899sharkey YOUR SCENARIO,of a 67ali,71 joe is interesting as it is virtually a peak to peak bout,and i agree with your predicted outcome.it is both rational,and probable,as good as any for a guess.ya know ive noticed willie pep has alot of ali moves[vice versa rather],willie pep is a virtual clone at times,guess im the last to learn pep inspired ali.also,im the last to learn frazier clearly was influenced by the great henry armstrong.any thoughts on that note?

Damn, Joe Frazier spoke super clear back then.

@1899sharkey right,the shear number of fights they racked up often reflects fighting year round.an example again,is pep.one year in the late fortys[think it was 46or 47]he had 18 pro fights,sometimes 12-16 fights in a single year.pep is an extreme sure but they fought frequently.i read comments that imply these older masters were not as good as todays crop,thats ridiculous.yes boxings not what it was even in 70's and 80's by far.i feel lucky to have seen those bouts.

LA GENTE CHIFLA...EL AFANO.GRANDE RINGO

Aguante el Ringo

@1899sharkey in reading early[1920'and earlier]the training was not that different from now,but ALOT OF HARD CONTACT.Jeffrys[a champion sprinter in the 100] routinely did 12 miles,huge road work for a heavy.they didnt use nutritionist but ive read the diet plans of greens lean meat,no pastrys.the routines diet etc were remarkably the same,but alot more ACTUAL FIGHTS AND CONTACT SPARING[they called it "ring shape",different than lifting or running shape.in effect it was actual "fighting shape"

@1899sharkey i want to pursue flynn more,you are right,he was a kind of old school bridge fighter from old to new method fighting.im hoping i can learn from him.he looks God awful against johnson,being toyed with and smack talked im sure.it shows me the advantages to some degree of modern fighting as seen with johnson.tho i think johnsons physical superiority also helped him against flynn.i like the wepner comparison,durable,straight in,hard punching,determined thats flynn.fought in half crouch

If Bonovena trained properly and had a decent manager, could of beaten Frazier and Ali on any given night. Training is extremely important and Bonovena failed hugely in that department. Trainer/manager was also a key to Bonovena not winning the major fights.

@1899sharkey I didnt know that he'd KO'D that impressively,good stat.a stat few would get right betcha.i see Burns being a disciple of Corbett.Burns,like J.J.C.brings great footwork into the game both defensively and offensively.we lateral movement,and back peddaling.Guys like this ushered out the flat footed plodder we see more typically then in guys like Flynn.What a revelation,foot work is evasive!!

@1899sharkey jeffreys was a beast trainer,and a tremendous natural,he ran a 100 sprint at 225lb only a hair off the world record.guy was a locomotive for the time,and still would be now! as i mentioned a 12 mile road work dailey.i'd guess 5-6 miles today is the norm.Back then everybody boxed and pro football,baseball,and other sports didnt drain off all the talent,boxing was extremely popular compared to now.boxing drew on a great talent base and it showed.schools had boxing for shit sakes.

Had to watch this fight because I saw it was scored a Majority Decision but to me, Frazier is clearly whooping Bonavena's ass.It must have been because of the two knockdowns that this fight was even close. Great heart from Joe to get back up and fight harder. Who gets up from George Foreman's punches 8 times?

Even if ali stopped hanging and leaning on him? And without the zombie zero point deduction referees?

Bonavena winner!👊😠

After watching couple times 4 rounds each 2 even Oscar won

@1899sharkey wow flynn burns,i imagine a bloody fight ,presume burns won on speed.burns looks another level to me tho im not sure.i see more mobility,agility,in burns.mobility,agility,durability,speed,power,and endurance these are the assets that with SKILL,in short great defense and offense spell greatness.what a challenging,great,game.watchin johnson play cat mouse with all these tough bastards explains why fliescher thought so much of him i guess.watchin these guys has taught me johnson more

@1899sharkey ok.thats good,he was tough,who else straight into johnson.good view,old school transition guy,exactly

@dropway9 He had gone to round 5 once before and his last fight before this one ended in round 6..... Dunphy messed up, lol. Frazier had won all fights by KO though!

@1899sharkey burns would fare well because he had speed,todays method is alot about speed.toughness is never obsolete,he had that too.ya gotta be tough at S.M.theyre big hard hittin guys.burns had ALL THE ATTRIBUTES,required to go far today,no doubt at all.he had speed and we know he could punch[fought heavys],he a winner any ol year ya wish to pick in my book

@1899sharkey well i watched Burns fight Squires [watching him fight johnson told me little other than he was severely overmatched],i saw him as small,at proper weight,balanced,good footwork,great steppin right hand which he leads with.its hard because the style is very obsolete,as in less combinations.sorry i diidnt see great langford things here,or dominate johnson things here,the guy must have been great,but i dont see it.langford would murder him,dempsey too.jeffreys wins too same

Frazier at age 22 would never have beaten a prime or close to prime Ali. Joe peaked at the time of 1st Ali fight. Would have been an exciting fight though, as was all of their fights

@dropway9 inexperienced 66 frazier easily beat prime Ali?...joe was upright orthodox in style here,ali was much faster,,,ali on points bet on it

a ringo le faltaba tirar mejor las manos no les gano a ali y a frezier por ese motivo y los gancho no los uso una verdadera lastima

@dropway9 ali would of won on points.

Let's be clear here, Ali lost the first fight against Frazier because (1) He was not in tip-top shape and as a result rested a lot on the ropes allowing Frazier to pile up points and (2) he fought a very poor fight tactically often trading punches with Frazier with his back to the ropes. If a young Ali fights a young Frazier and Ali decides he wants to win, Ali wins EVERY TIME and decisively so.

Frazier of '66 loses to Ali of '66 ten times out of ten. Ali in 71 nearly had Frazier out on his feet in round 9 but the bell saved Frazier. Ali was pretty much flat footed for the whole '71 fight. Between '64 and '67 nobody could beat Ali including Frazier. Chuvalo did have Ali pissing blood in their first fight. That was from Ali allowing Chuvalo to hit his midsections and sides at will. Yank Durham even stated he wanted Ali to slow down a few steps before allowing Frazier to fight him.

'66 Frazier beats '66 Ali easily?? I don't think any heavyweight of any era beats a '66 Ali easily. If a '66 Ali takes the fight seriously and is in tip-top shape, he wins a lopsided decision. A younger Ali handles Frazier just like he did and II and III, only worse for Frazier.

JAMES J JEFFRIES in his prime would destory any boxer that ever lived!

No Way Dropway9 In The Mid 60's Ali Was The Man And Nobody Was Beating Him Then.

@dropway9 u gotta be kidding! Ali was probably in the best shape of his life from 65-67! Frazier was way too inexperienced at that time to beat Muhammad Ali. I would rather say, that the 1971 Frazier against a 1966 Ali would have been a very close fight!

Frazier of '66 could never have beaten Ali of '66. A better comparison between the two would have been a '69 or '70 version of Frazier against an Ali between '64 to '67 when both were at the top of their game. Ali's speed would have won out. He gave Frazier all he could handle after 3 1/2 years off and then beat Frazier twice.