Heavyweight boxing legend Smokin’ Joe Frazier dies

Frazier, the former undisputed world heavyweight champion best remembered for his three fights with Muhammad Ali and two with George Foreman, died after a short battle with liver cancer.

Muhammad Ali today paid tribute to his great rival, saying: “The world has lost a great champion.”

Boxing promoter Frank Warren hailed Joe Frazier as “one of the most exciting heavyweights ever”.

Mr Warren said Frazier was “part of that era of the best heavyweights there have ever been. The trilogy of fights that he had with Muhammad Ali, the tough fight he had with George Foreman and the good wins on the way – he was one of the most exciting heavyweights ever.

“People talk about Mike Tyson at the age of 21. Joe Frazier, when he was a young fella, was every bit (as good as), if not better than, Mike Tyson.”

Olympic gold

Frazier won the Olympic heavyweight boxing gold medal for the United States in 1964 in Tokyo and held the world heavyweight boxing crown from 1970 to 1973.

He is eternally linked with Ali thanks to their trilogy of fights in the 1970s, among the most famous in the history of the sport. Frazier won the first and Ali took the next two.

The world has lost a great champion Muhammad Ali

They could not have been more different personalities. Ali was a charismatic self-promoter. Frazier was a proud, no-nonsense man who dropped out of school at age 13.

Frazier won the world heavyweight title in 1970, knocking out champion Jimmy Ellis, after Ali had been stripped of the championship in 1967 for refusing to fight in the Vietnam war due to his Muslim beliefs.

20th century sporting legend

Ali was reinstated and met Frazier on March 8, 1971 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, in a bout billed as “The Fight of the Century”. Frazier sent Ali to the canvas with a left hook in the 15th round.

Ali got up but Frazier won by unanimous decision. The brutal encounter left both men hospitalised. Frazier later lost his title in 1973 to hard-hitting George Foreman.

The second Ali-Frazier fight was on Jan. 28, 1974, again at Madison Square Garden, with Ali winning a 12-round decision. Ali then beat Foreman to reclaim the championship.

He defended it in the third Frazier fight on Oct. 1, 1975, in an encounter in the Philippines known as “The Thrilla in Manila” one of the most famous sporting events of the 20th century.

Legendary rivalry

Smokin’ Joe Frazier, Olympic gold medallist, heavyweight champion of the ring, Hollywood actor and member of the international boxing hall of fame, had many achievements in his life and career. Yet every obituary written today has remembered him alongside a man he once hated, Muhammad Ali.

In life and now in death, Frazier and Ali’s names are synonymous, thanks to an epic trilogy of fights which climaxed with the legendary “Thrilla in Manila”.

The bout, which lasted a brutal 14 rounds, went down in boxing history as the greatest fight of the century. In a post-fight interview, Ali proclaimed of Frazier: “He is the greatest fighter of all time, next to me.”

Read more on the mental struggle faced by the toughest stars in sport

It was this attitude, and Ali’s relentless racial insults and mocking of his opponent, that lead to Frazier being overshadowed and embittered for the next 40 years.

Ali went on to become the most famous boxer in history; Joe Frazier spent his final years living above a modest gym he ran in Philadelphia.

When asked by a reporter how he felt about Ali lighting the Olympic torch, Frazier sneered: “They should have thrown him in.”

Ali’s words hit Frazier harder then his punches and the emotional scars stayed for longer than any physical markings. Yet, the two sportsmen buried their grievances in old age. Frazier said that he forgave Ali, and Ali paid a heartfelt tribute to Frazier on his death.

But the legendary fight, and these legendary fighters, demonstrate the physical and emotional fragility of athletes who are paid to be tough.