SMOKIN' JOE: A CHAMPION FOREVER

 

SMOKIN’ JOE

If he had accomplished nothing else in his career than win the Fight of the Century, Smokin’ Joe Frazier would still be remembered today as an all-time great heavyweight world champion. Frazier had a lot of great nights in the squared circle over the course of his illustrious career. In fact, Frazier will no doubt be remembered more for one defeat than all of his great victories.  Of course, I am talking about the Thrilla in Manila, considered by boxing experts to be the greatest heavyweight battle every fought in the history of professional boxing.

The courage, determination and heart displayed by both Frazier and Ali the night of October 1, 1975, in Manila, Philippines, will live forever as a testament to the human spirit. For it was on that night that Frazier and Ali created a boxing benchmark for ferocity, brutality, and sheer guts that will never be equaled, let alone surpassed. 

Eddie Futch, Frazier’s trainer was absolutely correct when he said to Joe, after stopping his third fight with Ali after the 14^th round, “No one will ever forget what you did here tonight, son.” From the 4^th round to the 11^th round, Frazier owned Ali, like no fighter has ever been owned by his opponent in boxing annals. Frazier staked his ownership to Ali with vicious body shots to Ali’s liver, kidneys and heart. Ali said after that it was the closest experience to death that he could possibly imagine. The sounds of those body shots consistently slapping against Ali’s flanks was sickening to hear and behold.

Because of the tremendous humidity in Manila, both fighters’ gloves became water-logged very early in the fight. The extra water in the gloves made each of Frazier’s hellacious body shots that much more deadly. That Ali survived Frazier’s repeated onslaughts to his body made him that night the greatest heavyweight champion that ever lived.

Ali had Frazier hurt early and ready to go by the second round. Ali kept up his attack hoping for an early knockout but it was not to be. Frazier recovered by round four and turned the tables in a big way, forcing Ali to the ropes and relentlessly pounding his body, taking Ali’s legs and mobility completely out of the fight. Frazier forced Ali to stand and fight or die. They almost did both that night.

Such heroic memories were recalled today by boxing fans throughout the world upon hearing of the untimely death of the former, undisputed, heavyweight champion of the world, Smokin’ Joe Frazier. The outpouring of emotion along with grief runs deep in the hearts of fight fans who loved, idolized and adored Smokin’ Joe Frazier. In fact, sports fans and people in general were deeply touched to hear of Frazier’s demise, such was the decency, modesty and humility of the former champ.

Joe Frazier was so beloved, that upon hearing the news he was suffering from liver cancer, many of his fans offered to donate all of part of their healthy livers just to help Joe out. He meant that much to so many people. It just doesn’t seem real to be in a world without Joe Frazier. He was one of those rare people you thought would live forever. Joe’s fans and all of those people fortunate enough to have met the former champ, loved him for his accomplishments in the ring and for his uncommon dignity and kindness outside of the ropes.

Muhammad Ali’s longtime trainer Angelo Dundee was quite distraught upon hearing the news of Joe’s passing. For Angelo, who had a ringside seat to Ali’s three historic fights with Frazier, the fights were strictly business and never personal. Angelo said today, Joe Frazier was one of the top several fighters in all of boxing. He was an honest, decent man and an all-time great world heavyweight champion. We all respected and admired him.” 

Even in a golden era of outstanding heavyweight fighters, Frazier stood out. He held the title heavyweight title from 1968 to 1973. Frazier captured the title by knocking out Jimmy Ellis in New York. By the way, at that time, Frazier was the only heavyweight champion of the world. Back then, to be a world champ meant you really were the best fighter in your weight class in the world. It meant something back then. The world heavyweight champion was only rivaled in importance by the President of the United States and, often, much more respected.

The amazing thing about Frazier was that he always seemed to be so much more than the heavyweight champion of the world. Then again, Frazier was always much more than the sum of his parts. That’s because his individual parts didn’t seem like much until they were put together as one.

Anyone looking at Frazier’s physical handicaps on paper would never conclude that he was a potential heavyweight world champion.  Frazier was blind in his left eye throughout his entire boxing career, a secret he managed to keep hidden for many years. He was also short for a heavyweight and he had short arms, a definite handicap against bigger men.

Frazier’s left arm was permanently bent at the elbow into an “L” shape, because of a childhood accident that happened on his family’s farm. Frazier’s success was even more unusual when you consider that he was essentially a one-handed fighter, rarely using his right hand as anything more than a range finder, something to distract his opponents with, while he set himself to throw the greatest left hook the heavyweight division has ever seen.

The problem with looking at a fighter’s handicaps or assets on paper is that it doesn’t allow for the inclusion of important intangible elements.  In Frazier’s case, that meant heart. No fighter in any weight class ever displayed more heart in the ring than Joe Frazier. Frazier’s heart combined with his unrivaled grit and determination made him the most feared fighter in the world during his career. Frazier didn’t just wreck guys he ended their careers. Frazier’s heart and determination combined with his incredible work ethic and desire to succeed at all costs was developed while growing up in acute poverty in the racially segregated and biased South.

Joe Frazier was born on January 12^th, 1944 in Laurel Bay, Beaufort, South Carolina. Ironically, Muhammad Ali’s birthday falls on January 17^th. Only five days separate the birthdays of these two legendary world heavyweight champions. His parents were Rubin and Dolly Frazier. Frazier had no formal education because back then, very few black children in Beaufort were allowed admittance to public schools. Also, many black families needed their children to stay home to help with the farm chores.

Frazier’s father was a sharecropper although the 10 acres of land his family owned was not very arable. Joe’s father Rubin made more money brewing and selling moonshine whiskey than he did farming. Ruben always took his son Joe (known then as Billy Joe) with him to sell his moonshine.

Frazier had a stocky build for a teenager. His uncle Israel noticed Joe’s build and said he looked like a future heavyweight champion. It is doubtful if his uncle ever knew how prophetic his compliment turned out to be.

At the age of 15, Frazier moved north to Philadelphia as a young teenager in order to pursue his boxing career. He took a job in a kosher slaughterhouse to support himself, his wife and their young daughter. Frazier was very overweight and joined a local boxing gym to lose weight and to get into shape. He took to boxing like a duck to water. Although he was not physically as big or skilled as some of the other heavyweights in Yank Durham’s gym, Frazier wound up knocking them all out in several months time.

Frazier was actually a southpaw but he was turned around by Yank Durham, his trainer. The conventional wisdom at that time was to turn a southpaw around, into an orthodox fighter. This would then allow him to have his left, his power hand, out in front of him, where he could use it more often. Also, it was extremely difficult for southpaws to get meaningful fights because orthodox fighters found them very difficult to beat.  Nothing has changed much in boxing in that regard, most fighters still prefer not to fight southpaws if it can be avoided.

Frazier quickly realized that boxers who had won Olympic gold medals, often made much more money than fighters of equivalent talent. He joined the U.S. amateur team for the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. Buster Mathis defeated him during the Olympic trials, which allowed Joe to go to the Olympics as an amateur. Mathis broke his thumb and was replaced by Frazier, who went on to capture the gold medal.

It is indeed difficult to discuss Joe Frazier without mentioning Muhammad Ali because they shared so much in common. They were both Olympic boxing gold medalists prior to capturing the world heavyweight title. Frazier always took great delight in telling people that his gold medal was in the heavyweight division whereas Ali captured gold as a light heavyweight.

As it turned out, Frazier broke his thumb during the Olympics and was forced to delay his pro debut for several months until his thumb had completely healed. Frazier made up for lost time, tearing through the heavyweight division at breakneck speed.  Frazier’s ascent to the top of the heavyweight’s was aided by Ali’s noticeable absence. Ali was illegally stripped of the heavyweight title by boxing’s ruling bodies for his anti Viet Nam war stance.

While not agreeing with Ali’s religious views, Frazier still respected Ali’s right to practice his religion in good faith and certainly respected Ali’s decision to not go to Viet Nam. Frazier financially supported Ali during his enforced exile, paying Ali’s mortgage and his monthly bills.

Frazier’s decimation of the heavyweight division continued in earnest as he defeated tough contender Oscar Bonavena, although he suffered two knockdowns in the process. He then stopped highly rated Canadian heavyweight George Chuvalo. The fight was stopped in the third round, after Frazier busted Chuvalo’s orbital bone with a left hook. Chuvalo had staggered Frazier the previous round. The two remained good friends for life. 

Frazier possessed the capability to end a fight at any time with one left hook. That left hook bought him a big house in a posh Philadelphia suburb, a fleet of luxury cars, a flashy wardrobe and jewellery, and put his children through university.

Frazier’s success was greatly aided by having one of boxing’s all time great trainers in his corner, in the venerable Eddie Futch. Frazier did so well in his third fight with Ali because Futch made him work hard on developing his right hand. This provided him with another weapon for Ali to worry about. The more he used his right hand successfully, the more devastating his left hook became and it was already nuclear capable to begin with. During the Thrilla in Manila, Frazier regularly hurt Ali with right hooks to the head. Ali and his team were astonished to see Frazier using his right hand with great success. In fact, Ali’s team could not believe that Frazier was still there, firing back after four rounds of action. Boxing insiders had informed Ali’s team that Frazier was a shot fighter with virtually nothing left in the tank.  As they were witnessing first hand, nothing was further from the truth. During the fifth round, Ali said to Joe, “Joe Frazier. They told me you was all washed up!” Frazier’s response was a thing of beauty, “They lied pretty boy, they lied!”

Frazier’s ring style was reminiscent of a coal-fueled locomotive, chugging along, bobbing up and down, and moving forward, always moving forward, as if propelled by a sense of his own destiny. Frazier in the ring was the living definition of an impossible scientific theory, namely, perpetual motion. Perpetual motion is supposed to be impossible, but nobody told Frazier that.  He bobbed up and down to make himself harder to hit. He always moved forward so as not to allow his foes to take anytime off during the fight. When you fought Frazier, he forced you to fight three minutes of every round, for all fifteen rounds. You only took time off after he had knocked you out cold.

Frazier loved to get under his opponent’s reach and work their body. Watch the Thrilla in Manila again. From the fourth round on, he hammered Ali’s body with shots so vicious, people up in the cheap seats could hear Ali wincing in pain from the sickening sound of water logged leather gloves slapping against Muhammad Ali’s ever reddening flesh.

Joe Frazier loved to fight. It was his reason for being. He reveled in the action. Frazier loved nothing better than a toe-to-toe slugfest. He lived for that moment when fighters lean on each other in center ring and fire off power shots, each man attempting to decapitate the other. That was his prime milieu, his utter essence. George Foreman recalled watching Frazier fight on television. Foreman said he was shocked when, after a particularly rough round, Frazier went back to his corner, smiling and flexing his shoulders as if to say, “Man that was fun.” For Frazier, it was fun and the sole reason he existed.  Frazier knew that if he clipped you on the button once with his left hook, the fight was over.

Ali and Frazier will be linked together throughout boxing and world history. They liked each other and they hated each other, both at the same time. In the ring they brought out the best in each other. They fought forty-one rounds together for the championship of each other and they both won and lost big. Ali won two of their three battles but they were both irreparably damaged from their three wars of attrition. 

Many fight fans immediately wondered how Ali took the death of his greatest opponent. Ali was very upset, and emotional over the loss of Frazier. They had long since settled their differences and Ali had apologized publicly and privately to Frazier for the odious comments he had made about him in the heat of the moment many years before.

Recently, Frazier was visibly shocked and saddened to see the extent to which Parkinson’s had ravaged Ali. Ali was upset to see Frazier looking so thin and frail due to the effects of liver cancer. They hugged each other warmly. The battles were long over. All animosity between them gone, replaced with good will and affection. In the end, there was only mutual respect and admiration between these two gallant warriors. They were great separately, but together they were the best of all time.