Joe Frazier
For the Major League Baseball player and manager, see Joe Frazier (baseball)Joseph William "Smokin' Joe" Frazier is a former world Heavyweight
boxing champion who is considered one of the greatest boxers of all time. Frazier is famous for his trilogy of fights with
Muhammad Ali, of which their third bout, the
Thrilla in Manila, has been considered by many to be boxing's greatest bout ever.
Born in
Beaufort, South Carolina on
January 12,
1944, the
Philadelphia-raised Frazier won a Gold medal in boxing at the
1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. He subsequently turned professional, defeating
Woody Goss by a
knockout in the first round. He won three more fights that year, all by knockout. Joe Frazier's vision in his left eye was considered legally blind. He fought entirely with his right eye throughout his career. He never revealed this fact till after his retirement. This startling revelation revealed just how great of a fighter he had been.
In
1966, Frazier was undefeated in nine fights, winning eight by knockout before gaining a split decision over Oscar Bonavena, despite Bonavena flooring him twice in round two. His knockout victims included
Charlie Polite and
Eddie Machen.
In
1967, Frazier won all four of his fights, including a sixth round knockout of
Doug Jones and a fourth round technical knockout of
George Chuvalo.
In
1968, Ali had to leave his world Heavyweight title vacant, because of his protest against the Vietnam war, and the
New York commission decided to hold a fight between Frazier and
Buster Mathis, the winner being recognized as
world champion by the state of New York. Although the fight was not widely recognized as a world championship bout by boxing fans, nevertheless, Frazier went in there and won the fight by a knockout in 11. Then, he beat
Manuel Ramos of
Mexico in two rounds to defend his 'title', and he also beat Bonavena in a rematch, also retaining that 'title', by a decision in 15.
In what could be considered a weird twist,
1969 saw him defend his New York 'title' in
Texas, beating
Dave Zyglewicz by a knockout in the first, and then box an exhibition at
Times Square. He finished the year knocking out
Jerry Quarry in seven, once again defending the New York 'title'.
On
February 16,
1970, Frazier finally became a recognized champion when
WBA world Heavyweight champion
Jimmy Ellis defended against Frazier at the
Madison Square Garden and Frazier defeated him with a fifth round knockout. Frazier was immediately recognized as the undisputed world champion. In his first defense, he went to
Detroit to fight legendary world Light Heavyweight champion
Bob Foster, who set a record for the number of defenses in the Light Heavyweight division. Frazier retained the title by a knockout in two, and then came what was nicknamed the
Fight Of The Century, his first fight with Ali.
On
March 8 of
1971, also at the Madison Square Garden, Frazier and Ali boxed the first of three epic bouts. In front of a world wide
television audience, and an in-house audience which included such luminaries as
Frank Sinatra (acting as a photographer for
Life magazine) and
Woody Allen, Frazier dropped Ali in round 15, to secure a 15 round decision win and retain the title, inflicting Ali's first professional defeat. Around this time, many people in the Black community felt Frazier was not a vocal advocate of the Black community's struggle for civil rights and he began to be labeled an "Uncle Tom" by some of the members of that communityImmediately after the first Ali fight, Frazier faced health problems, and on
March 16, he was hospitalized in Philadelphia with
high blood pressure and
kidney problems. This caused the media to speculate that Frazier had died, and the rumor spread quickly across the
United States. Frazier was released from the hospital about a week later.
In
1972, Frazier retained the title twice, beating
Terry Daniels and
Ron Stander, both four round knockout losers to Frazier.
Then came
January 22 of
1973 in
Kingston,
Jamaica, and it was Frazier's turn to lose his undefeated record, and world championship belt, against
George Foreman, when Foreman knocked him out in two rounds. This was the first fight ever telecast on
HBO Boxing. Frazier then returned to his winning ways with a 12 rounds decision win over
Joe Bugner, a future challenger to Ali for the world title. The fight was held in
London.
In
1974, his second fight against Ali took place, once again in New York, where Ali reversed the result of the first fight with a 12 round decision win over Frazier. Frazier finished that year with another rematch, knocking Quarry out in five rounds.
1975 was once again, a year of rematches for Frazier, but this time around, they were accompanied by more traveling to far away countries. He met former world champion Ellis in
Melbourne, Australia and came out the winner by a knockout in nine. That win made him again the number one challenger for the world crown, taken over by Ali after beating Foreman by knockout in eight at
The Rumble in the Jungle. Ali and Frazier met for the third time in
Quezon City, the
Philippines (the "
Thrilla in Manila"), and Ali took every opportunity to mock Frazier, nicknaming him
The Gorilla and trying to aggravate him at every chance he had. The fight, which was attended by Philippine President
Ferdinand Marcos, caused a widespread media frenzy and was seen live in many countries around the world. Ali retained his title when Frazier failed to answer the bell for the final round as his right eye had swollen up and he was practically fighting blind. Ali described the fight as "the closest thing to death" he knew of.
In
1976, Frazier lost to Foreman in a rematch and retired. He made a cameo appearance in the movie
Rocky and he dedicated himself to training many local boxers in his native
Philadelphia, including many of his own children.
In
1980, Frazier was honoured by the band
Bruford on their LP
Gradually Going Tornado.
In
1981, Frazier attempted a comeback which lasted only one fight, drawing in ten rounds with
Jumbo Cummings in
Chicago, Illinois.
Ever since, Frazier, who likes to meet fans and sign
autographs, has involved himself in different endeavours. Among the many of his sons that turned to boxing as a career, he helped train
Marvis Frazier, a challenger for
Larry Holmes's world Heavyweight title, and currently trains his daughter,
Jackie Frazier-Lyde.
In
1990, Frazier joined Ali, Foreman, Norton and Holmes to appear on the cover of a boxing game,
Champions Forever, produced for the
Sega and
Nintendo game systems. He appeared as himself in
an episode of The Simpsons in
1992 in which he would have gotten beaten up by
Barney Gumble, but objected so that he would beat up Gumble instead. He later appeared
in another episode of the Simpsons in early
2006.
Frazier wrote an autobiography entitled
Smokin' Joe. He was widely criticized for the many vituperative things he said about Ali in his book. He went on and on about Ali's "insults" and said he had no pity for him in his current poor health. He said he would love to open the graveyard and bury Ali when he died. In contrast, Ali's autobiography (most likely ghost-written) was very generous towards Frazier.
Frazier had a record of 32 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw, with 27 knockout wins. He is a member of the
International Boxing Hall Of Fame.
A current episode of Joe Frazier has been added to "Beyond The Glory"
Frazier is still training fighters, and enjoying his earnings from his days as a boxer at his Philadelphia mansion. Reportedly, he and Ali have recently attempted a reconciliation.
Frazier had a lawsuit overthrown by a judge, on
November 18 of
2003, concerning 140.397 acres (568,000 m²) of then-farmland that he had acquired for 843,000
dollars in
1973 and had agreed in
1978 to sell for 1.87 million
dollars. The current value of the land is substantially greater than in
1978 now that the land has been parceled and 476 residences have been built on it.
Although Frazier had received annual payments for the property, he says that his signature was forged on the documents and he had no knowledge of the sale. Frazier said he was due 1.3 million
dollars in payments that were never made to him by the realty trust, and was asking for return of the land to his possession, plus the current value of the land (84 million
dollars) in damages. Frazier discovered that the mortgage was not secured only after the trust defaulted.
An earlier claim against the current residents of the land was also thrown out, for being directed against innocent parties. His daughter Jackie, who is also a lawyer, represented him during the lawsuit.
*
List of heavyweight boxing champions*
List of male boxers*
List of WBC world champions*
Notable boxing families*
Smokin Joe Frazier*
Dispute hits sour note with residents, Bucks County Courier Times
