K.O.W. - The Left Hook from Hell
With all the Ali encomiums flying around last week, and then with seeing Smokin Joe in the flesh at the MSG at 50 party, I started feeling like I needed to throw Ole Joe Frazier a little love. So I dug up this clip of his one-round demolition of Dave "Ziggy" Zyglewicz in 1969 for our No Mas Knockout of the Week. You get to see the vaunted Frazier left hook in full effect, because in a minute and a half, he lands about 30 of them on Ziggy's body and head (by my count, he throws the right only four times, although one is a brutal uppercut that sets up the KO). It's a frightening weapon, that left hook, frightening just to look at. Larry Holmes once told me about sparring with Frazier - he said, "Joe was angry in the ring... every time he hit you it was like he tryin to kill you." I watched the Thrilla on Ali's birthday (for about the thousandth time) and I swear - of all the amazing things that happened in that ring, for all the punishment Ali dished out, the most astonishing aspect of that fight is how many of those Frazier left hooks Muhammad absorbed and still stayed on his feet. It was superhuman shit.Dave Zyglewicz didn't quite fare so well, as you'll see. Check him out after the knockout when the ref hoists him to his feet. Man is like Gumby, dammit.
4 Comments:
Damn Ziggy, you gots to keep that right up by your cheek...His trainer should have been disbarred for this. The right sid eof his face is so open it's ridiculous....Joe's footwork on the hooks is so sweet. SO compact and powerful and he needs so little setup and tipoff to deliver power on that left hook...A thing of beauty
Zyglewicz - just doesn't sound like a heavyweight contender.
Louis defended the title 25 times - never fought a guy whose last name started with Z. Ali defended his title 19 times over two title reigns - never defended against a guy whose last name started with Z (though he did knock out Zora Folley).
It is worth noting amongst Larry Holmes 20 title defenses, he did knock out Lorenzo Zanon. Zanon at least was the European Heavyweight champ at one time (that and two bucks gets you a subway ride).
All due respect to David Zyglewicz, wherever he is now, Joe Frazier definitely fought some softies in his title defenses - Ziggy, Terry Daniels, Ron Stander - three of the weakest heavyweight title challengers in boxing history.
Still have much love for Smokin' Joe though.
As a man with a Z in his name, Kurt, I appreciate your research. You gotta admit, though - The Brown Bomber fought some serious bums in his day. And I sure as hell know that Billy Conn wouldn't have given Smokin Joe a scare.
Yo, Billy Conn is from the 'Burgh which is two hours south of my home town Erie. Do not speak ill of Billy Conn - lol. Frazier probably would have ground him down faster than Louis - but who knows. Conn was undersized but a very skilled boxer. The Boxing Writer's Association voted him the best Light-Heavy of all-time. Not sure I agree - but he was a great one.
Agreed, Louis fought some softies for sure - Johnny (Take This Job And Shove It") Paycheck, Jack ("Mr.") Roper, Gus Dorazio, etc. But even these guys beat SOMEBODY.
Check out Ziggy on boxrec. The best win of his career was in 1967 over a severely faded Willi Besmanoff (in Willi's last fight) and even Besmanoff was just a fringe contender in the late 50's - at best. Besmanoff finished his career with a record of 51-33-8, 19 KO's. Ziggy had absolutely no business in a world title fight with Frazier.
Listen, I love Joe Frazier and what he stood for and when they were fighting I liked him better than Ali. But Joe did pick some serious tomato cans to defend the title against - Ziggy being the worst of the bunch.
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