RIP Smokin' Joe...

Forums: Sports, News, Obituaries, Boxing, Joe Frazier
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Boxing legend Joe Frazier dies

He beat Muhammad Ali in the Fight of the Century, battled him nearly to the death in the Thrilla in Manila.
Then Joe Frazier spent the rest of his life trying to fight his way out of Ali's shadow.

That was one fight Frazier never could win.

He was once a heavyweight champion, and a great one at that. Ali would say as much after Frazier knocked him
down in the 15th round en route to becoming the first man to beat Ali at Madison Square Garden in March 1971.

But he bore the burden of being Ali's foil, and he paid the price. Bitter for years about the taunts his former
nemesis once threw his way, Frazier only in recent times came to terms with what happened in the past and
said he had forgiven Ali for everything he said.

Frazier, who died Monday night after a brief battle with liver cancer at the age of 67, will forever be linked to Ali.
But no one in boxing would ever dream of anointing Ali as "The Greatest" unless he, too, was linked to Smokin' Joe.

"I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration," Ali said in a statement. "My sympathy goes out to his
family and loved ones."

(espn)

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@Region Philbis,

RIP, Joe you beat the greatest.

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@raprap,

If there is anything beyond, Joe, you're wearing the belt.

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Hope Joe ain't smokin' right now -

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Another great boxer dead, from the peroid of great boxers, Henry Cooper died earlier this year, lets hope they're not on a run.

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Frazier was a very good fighter and had to take a lot of trash talk from Ali (another very good fighter--with a big mouth).

Glad to hear that Joe came to terms with things before he died. May he rest in peace.

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RIP, "Joltin' Joe"!

I don't know if Ali ever actually apologized to the man, but there are a bunch of us who witnessed it who then and now believe that Ali went way across any lines of decency in the putative effort to 'hype' the fights or 'psych out' Joe. I know it's reported that they reconciled, but I happen to think that is much more of a testament to Joe's capacity for forgiveness than any bigness in Ali's character.

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@snood,

I remember the time after his boxing days when he cut off his big toe while moowing his lawn. He soaked his toe in ALCOHOL and drove to a hospital.

Philly always loved Joe. Ill bet his funeral will be epic.

Joe never showed any of the PArkinson effects that Ali suffers. The story was that, even with the brutality of the Thrilla in Manila, Frazier went out and partied all night after the fight while Ali was crippled.

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This (liver cancer at 67) has nothing to do with boxing. Frazier's style of boxing was conducive to former opponents suffering from liver cancer later in life, but that would be about it.

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As to Ali being "the greatest".... Ali may have been one of the greatest or THE greatest pure athletes ever to earn his living at boxing; that is not the same thing as being the greatest professional prize fighter of all time. If nothing else, Ali never had the sort of punching power you'd associate with that sort of title.

Until somebody holds the heavyweight title for 13 years, Joe Louis will remain the greatest heavyweight. Other than that, over the last 50 - 60 years, there have been two professional fighters who stand out more than a little bit above the rest of the herd, those two being Roy Jones Jr. and Roberto Duran.

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@Region Philbis,

RIP Mr. Frazier.

One of my best memories as a kid was to be introduced to him by my ex-boxer dad while we were at Philadelphia's Blue Horizon fight club back in '70. Mr. Frazier lived in Plymouth-Whitmarsh, the next township over from were I lived, and we used to see him around the area, in the supermarket or dry cleaners or Plymouth Meeting Mall with his kids. He was a gracious and wonderful man. In all of Ali's fights, only three times did I root for his opponent, the three fights he fought against Mr. Frazier.

btw the Rocky film scene with Rocky beating sides of beef in the meat locker... that was a Joe Frazier legend.

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RIP Smokin' Joe.

the man had class...

his words on Ali: “I forgive him” “He’s in a bad way.”

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http://s3.amazonaws.com/slate-slideshow-prod/images%2Fslides%2Ffrazier_01.JPG

http://s3.amazonaws.com/slate-slideshow-prod/images%2Fslides%2Ffrazier_05.JPG

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http://www.authenticsigningsinc.com/product_images/main_joe_4.jpg

http://blueollie.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/joe_frazier_grande2.jpg?w=400&h=475

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@gungasnake,

gungasnake wrote:

Until somebody holds the heavyweight title for 13 years, Joe Louis will remain the greatest heavyweight. Other than that, over the last 50 - 60 years, there have been two professional fighters who stand out more than a little bit above the rest of the herd, those two being Roy Jones Jr. and Roberto Duran.

What about Marciano and Ray Robinson?

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@Roberta,

I'm too young to have a real opinion on those guys, Boida, but at least they were heavyweights.

duran was not a big guy. he never fought above middlewight.

jones doesn't even warrant a response.

Frazier was fighting for the heavyweight crown at 205 pounds or so...

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@Rockhead,

Robinson was a middleweight/welterweight. A true master.

Marciano was indeed a heavyweight (undefeated). He wasn't much of a mover, but he packed a major punch.

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@Rockhead,

Rockhead wrote:

I'm too young to have a real opinion on those guys, Boida, but at least they were heavyweights.

duran was not a big guy. he never fought above middlewight.

jones doesn't even warrant a response.

Frazier was fighting for the heavyweight crown at 205 pounds or so...

I'm not sure exactly what it is about Roy Jones Jr that you think doesn't "even warrant a response" as you so cleverly put it.

Maybe you should say nothing to your knowledge that would warrant a response. He made the same mistake common to a lot of prizefighters - staying in the game far past his prime. But in his professional career he won titles in the middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. He is the ONLY fighter in history to start his career as a junior middleweight, and win a title as a heavyweight.

At the very, VERY least warranting a response in a discussion about the best boxers of all times.

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Well, I love Ali and Smokin Joe equally. I did wonder about if they had fought before Ali laid off for those three years.

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@Roberta,

Quote:

What about Marciano and Ray Robinson?

Marciano would have had no chance in the ring with Joe Louis, both in their primes. Likewise I can't picture Robinson lasting more than five or six rounds in the ring with Roy Jones, both as middleweights, or with Duran both as welters at the last point at which Robinson was able to make welter weight and the point at which Duran started fighting welter. If Duran had a natural weight division it would have been junior welter; as it was, he held the lightweight title for around five or six years, which almost never happens given the amount of talent in the lower weight groups.

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RIP Smokin' Joe...

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