They competed in two of the most sensational bouts of all-time and defined an era with their fearsome rivalry.
Ali had nearly all of the physical advantages, but in the fight that remains the most significant in the sport’s history, it was Frazier who threw perhaps the perfect left hook to knock down Ali in the 15th round, punctuating a victory on March 8, 1971, in what will forever be remembered as “The Fight of the Century.”
Frazier rose from the most humble beginnings in Buford, S.C., to become a gold medalist and the world heavyweight champion, doing it through sheer will and perseverance. He fought in a classic bobbing-and-weaving style, working his way to the inside by attacking the body and then unleashing his money punch, the left hook.
He paid a heavy price to get inside, particularly in his bouts against Ali, but Frazier was fearless.
“I really and truly loved the guy,” promoter Bob Arum, who handled Ali, said. “He was a real man. He was a proud, great warrior who was everything that was great about boxing. It was one of my life’s great experiences knowing him.
“If I were in a war zone fighting against any enemy, the guy I would choose to have next to me was Joe Frazier. There was no quit in him and he was really a man.”
Frazier spent nine days in the hospital after becoming the first man to defeat Ali, and he was never the same fighter again. He went 5-4-1 in his next 10 fights, losing twice to Ali and twice to George Foreman.
He harboured a grudge against Ali that he never truly got over. Ali mercilessly taunted Frazier as he was promoting their fights, referring to him as a “gorilla” and an “Uncle Tom.” That incensed Frazier, who could never come to terms with the fact that Ali was simply trying to draw attention to his fights.
Larry Merchant, the one-time sports editor of the Philadelphia Daily News and now an HBO Sports boxing analyst, said Frazier was too proud to forgive Ali’s taunts.
“Ali, in his way of trying to market fights, had been cruel at times,” Merchant said. “We all knew that Ali was just doing a sales job, trying to promote the fights, but if you’re the target and the bullets are hitting you and you have to take them, then I guess it could be pretty hard to take. And Joe really resented him for years and years for the things Ali had said.”
Frazier took delight in Ali’s struggles with Parkinson’s syndrome that rendered the most talkative athlete ever mute.
“I did that to him,” Frazier would say to anyone who would listen.
Ali will forever be remembered as the brash, loud-mouthed champion who stood toe-to-toe with the establishment. Frazier, meanwhile, was taunted as the gorilla, ugly, stupid and an Uncle Tom, by Ali.
It was those jabs that hit Frazier hardest and still stung the most right up until death. Frazier, 67, passed away late Monday night following a brief bout with liver cancer. He died in Philadelphia among family and friends.
His passing caught the boxing world by surprise though it had become known Smokin’ Joe didn’t have long to live after the public became aware over the weekend of his month-long battle with liver cancer that had landed him in hospice.
"He was such an inspirational guy. A decent guy. A man of his word," ex-Ali promoter Bob Arum said to the Associated Press. "I'm torn up by Joe dying at this relatively young age. I can't say enough about Joe."
There is no succinct way to summarize who was as much of a giant as Smokin’ Joe. He would live in the shadow of Ali for the rest of their lives after losing the final two bouts of their trilogy, but Frazier was bigger than the shadow he cast. The man who escaped Beaufort, S.C. as a teenager with barely $200 in his pockets in the late 1950s would do go on to do great things because of his unmatched heart and determination.
One can’t help but wonder how history would have viewed Frazier his trainer, Eddie Futch, had allowed his fight to answer the bell in the 15th round of The Thrilla in Manila in 1975.
Futch was trying to save his fighter whose eye so badly swollen he couldn’t see out of it, but Frazier still had something left while Ali would later describe the exhaustion and punished he took in that fight as “next to death.”
Maybe Frazier would have been as revered as his more boisterous adversary, who has since been quieted over the years in his bout with Parkinson’s disease?
But Frazier, would never hold a heavyweight championship again after being knocked out in the second round by George Foreman in their 1973 bout, will forever be remembered as a champion for what he meant as man and the things he accomplished.
He raised a beautiful family, had successful kids and remained an ambassador of his adopted home of Philadelphia right up until his death.
Frazier was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is survived by eight children.
No comments:
Post a Comment