The Sunshine Showdown
The Sunshine Showdown describes a famous boxing match between the then reigning heavyweight world champion Joe Frazier and his challenger George Foreman . It took place on January 22, 1973 in Kingston , Jamaica . Frazier, with his WBA and WBC belts, unrestricted world champion for almost three years, suffered the first defeat of his career through Foreman.
background
Won Frazier, in 1968 the first of the two former world title and then, two years by his victory on Feb. 16, 1970 against Jimmy Ellis , climb the sole world champion, was the latest since 1971 with his victory against the then undefeated Muhammad Ali as the world's best heavyweight boxer. In the fight against George Foreman, he went into the ring with significant overweight. Many critics and fans agreed that Foreman would not survive more than five rounds against Frazier in the ring. Frazier received the then respectable sum of $ 800,000 , while Foreman received 250,000 for the fight.
| Surname | Fight name | Struggles | Victories (by knockout) | Defeats | draw |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Frazier | Smokin 'Joe | 28 | 28 (25) | 0 | 0 |
| George Foreman | Big | 38 | 38 (35) | 0 | 0 |
The fight
From the beginning Frazier tried in the usual manner to force his opponent into reverse gear with raid-like attacks. Although he was able to land several hits with it, he failed to impress Foreman, who in turn countered with powerful swingers . Halfway through the first lap, the world champion had to go down after Foremans hooked it . He got up immediately, but was knocked down again after 30 seconds. After Frazier saved himself from counting this time too, the third knockdown followed immediately, this time the pause gong coming to his aid. With the beginning of the second round Foreman continued his attacks, so that the defending champion suffered the meanwhile fourth rainfall after half a minute. After Frazier counted again and the fight was then released again, it took only a few seconds until Frazier had to go down for the fifth time. Here, too, he managed to resume the fight. After a sixth knockdown 15 seconds later, the referee finally broke off the duel without further counting, which made Foreman the new world champion.
After the fight
- Foreman held the world title for a year and a half and defended it twice during that time. In October 1974 he was dethroned by Muhammad Ali in Rumble in the Jungle .
- Frazier and Foreman met again on June 15, 1976 when fighting for the NABF championship. Foreman, who was the defending champion this time, also triumphed prematurely here when Frazier was taken out of the fight in the fifth round after his second knockdown.
Web links
- Report of the fight in the Toledo Blade on January 22, 1973
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Information on ringsideboxingshow.com