Im setting here watching "Ali" and the scene is on where ali and frazier are in the car discussing a fight if ali can beat jerry quarry.... and it hits me... do you guys think ali beats frazier the firsttime had he maybe had one more fight?... just made me wonder... i know joe gave him hell everytime but i just wonder if one more fight under his belt does he sharpen up enough to beat joe frazier the first time?... whats you guys thoughts on that?

Of course. Even still... he gave Joe some serious beating in that bout. aNOTHER bout to tune up and I am sure Frazier gets busted up...and when ali was floored by that monstrous hook... HE WAS UP AT THE COUNT OF 2!!! ALI WAS UNREAL... the greates of all times

NO!

Joe Frazier hated the fact that people considered Ali the champ and felt like he wasn't getting his dues. Frazier was hungry on that night and there was nothing Ali could do about it.

Joe was hungry for sure---but Ali getting up at the count of 2 from a left hook that would have KO'd an elephant tells me that a more prepared Ali handles Frazier...

Wow.. great question.. hard to say for sure. I'm rarely a fan of the woulda, coulda, shoulda train of thought, but I suppose he could've made it a bit tighter contest. But we'll never know and I like it better that way.

Ali would have the same train of thought even if he had that tune up. Overconfidence and the KD.

Ali would have the same train of thought even if he had that tune up. Overconfidence and the KD.

No. Frazier would be 2-1 up if the referee in the second fight had not allowed Clay to clinch as well. Clay clinched more in that second fight than in any John Ruiz fight. A forgotten fact when it comes to Clay.

thanks for the responses... was just interested in what you guys thought... i feel ya mbills but it hit me while watching that... one more fight for ali and he's a little sharper could have led to an ali victory and a complete change of the heavyweight landscape as we knew it to be back then... does foreman ever win the belts if this happens?... the 70's belonged to ali...

It has been almost 40 years, but I can still remember the very same discussion with my brothers BEFORE the fight. One of my brothers modeled his style after Frazier, right down to the left hook (tough little bastard, to this day). He claimed Frazier would KO Ali with the left hook. I said that it would never happen. We all agreed that Ali was coming back too fast. We felt he needed two more fights before going after Frazier.

When it comes to George Foreman (even given the fact that I am a huge Ali fan) you could have put a motherfucking rhino in the ring the night he took out Frazier and the pachyderm was going down for the count. The Foreman that showed up against Ali was a completely different animal.