I lean toward prime Louis to bomb Frazier out. Just too spectacular and accurate an offensive force for Smokin Joe to handle.
There was this thread on ESB which basically told us to pick one of the given fighters and describe your dream fights involving them. I had so much fun doing it that I basically just take those fights to be my predictions. Whether or not they're realistic is a different story, but I just find them so cool. Actually, I think that was the thread where Morlocks and Seamus got banned for Tyson vs Dempsey/Marciano racism. Anyway, I had Frazier stopping Louis in the late rounds. Frazier didn't start strong, getting dropped in the second. But he got back up and fought back bravely, landing his left and pushing Louis back before dropping Louis himself in the same round. The old idiom of Louis not liking pressure fighters turns out to be true, with Joe grinding him down on the inside, but taking plenty of punishment along the way. Louis finds his range more and more as the rounds progress. After dropping Frazier again sometime in the mid rounds, Louis looks like he's on his way to winning before Frazier ramps it up even more and dishes out everything he had in his FOTC incarnation and gives Louis hell for the rest of the fight. He lands a Foster/Ali/Ellis-esque left hook in the thirteenth or fourteenth and Louis gets up, but is very badly hurt and is dropped again for the count.
I imagine that Frazier would come out fast and take the fight to Louis. Louis, in my opinion, is not a slow starter so much as a guy that likes to take his time and Frazier's pressure would make him take his time in a hurry. Something like the first round of Frazier v Quarry 1, but more so, and Louis won't let him off the hook.
Really tough fight to pick. Id lean toward Frazier pressure winning the day, but i wouldn't be that shocked if Louis ping pongs him all over the canevas
I lean toward Smokin' Joe by a small margin. Frazier's head movement would make it difficult for Louis to land cleanly and regularly. Once it's at close quarters Louis doesn't have the strength to push off or the speed of foot to both land and move back into position. Not sure. Ask me next week i say Frazier inevitably gets picked off. Even just a good temple shot and Frazier is in big trouble.
