Joe Frazier

Joe Frazier
Joe Frazier, June 2010
Data
Birth Name	Joseph William Frazier
Fight name	Smokin 'Joe
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	January 12, 1944
place of birth	Beaufort , South Carolina
Date of death	November 7, 2011
Place of death	Philadelphia , Pennsylvania
style	Left delivery
size	1.81 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	37
Victories	32
Knockout victories	27
Defeats	4th
draw	1
Profile in the BoxRec database

Joseph William "Joe" Frazier (born January 12, 1944 in Beaufort , South Carolina , † November 7, 2011 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ) was an American boxer . He was the undisputed heavyweight boxing world champion from 1970 to 1973. His fighting name was Smokin 'Joe (Full Steam Joe). Frazier was the first boxer to win the Olympic gold medal as an amateur and then the heavyweight title as a professional. The two fights Fight of the Century and Thrilla in Manila against Muhammad Ali are considered classic heavyweight fights .

Life and amateur career

Frazier grew up with 11 siblings in a rural South Carolina area. When he was 15, the family moved to New York City , and a little later to Philadelphia. There his boxing career began. Frazier was discovered by coaching legends Yancey "Yank" Durham and Willie Reddish. According to his own statements, Frazier reportedly often beat halves of beef there during several years of working in a slaughterhouse. This was built into his boxer movie Rocky by Sylvester Stallone , which is about a Philadelphia underdog who wins a heavyweight title bout. Joe Frazier made a guest appearance in this film.

Frazier's amateur career was extremely successful. He only lost twice. He suffered these two defeats against Buster Mathis , a tall and always heavy, but nevertheless very agile, very fast and technically very strong boxer. Frazier achieved almost all of his victories by knockout , he achieved an extraordinarily good knockout rate in amateur boxing.

Although Frazier had lost the final of the US elimination contests to participate in the 1964 Summer Olympics against Mathis, he took in his place at the Olympics in 1964 in Tokyo in part because Mathis match due to a hand injury had. There the then 20-year-old won the gold medal with a narrow point victory with 3: 2 judges' votes against the German Hans Huber , who was the first opponent to make ends meet with Frazier. Frazier, however, went handicapped in the final fight, he broke his left flapping hand in the semifinals against the Russian Vadim Jemeljanow .

His record was 38-2.

Professional career

After winning the gold medal, coach Yank Durham found a number of local sponsors for Frazier, so that Frazier became a full professional from 1964. On August 16, 1965 he won his first fight against Woody Goss by technical knockout (TKO) in the first round. He also won his next 18 fights, 16 of them by knockout. His condition was outstanding; when it started rolling, there were hardly any opponents who could keep up. His left hook became his finest and most famous weapon. In 1966, Eddie Futch from Los Angeles Fraziers was the new coach. Futch later looked after other heavyweight world champions with Ken Norton and Riddick Bowe . Yank Durham remained Frazier's manager until his death in 1973.

In the fight against the Argentine heavyweight Óscar Bonavena , Frazier had to hit the ground twice, but later defeated him clearly on points. Here two problems with his fighting style became apparent. On the one hand, he was a late starter, he usually needed several rounds to achieve his full fighting strength - both knockdowns by Bonavena happened in the second round. On the other hand, it was shown that his open fighting style made him sensitive to good, tough puncher.

On March 4, 1968, Joe Frazier won the vacant championship title of the New York State Athletic Commission in New York's Madison Square Garden - from which the WBC Association later emerged - against Buster Mathis senior by TKO in the 11th round. In doing so, he had equalized the stigma from their amateur days together.

Frazier defended the title four times until 1969. The world titles were divided at the time after world champion Muhammad Ali was suspended and banned from the title for conscientious objection. The competing WBA held a tournament of the supposed top people, but Frazier did not want to take part. The former middleweight Jimmy Ellis , who had also been a sparring partner of Muhammad Ali, won this tournament by a "final victory" against Jerry Quarry . On February 16, 1970 it came to the unification of the title by Frazier in a unification fight against Ellis, who after two knockdowns in round 4 no longer appeared in the fifth round, triumphed. He was now world champion of the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council . However, it only became undisputed through the subsequent fight.

Joe Frazier 1971

On March 8, 1971, Muhammad Ali met for the first time. The fight was expected by the boxing public like no other heavyweight title fight before and achieved an exceptionally high level of public attention. That's why it got the name Fight of the Century and was marketed accordingly. Both fighters received the then very high sum of 2.5 million US dollars per man. Frazier put Ali in knockout danger during the second half of the fight and especially in the 11th round and knocked him to the ground with a left hook in the last round. He won unanimously on points and inflicted Ali the first defeat in his professional career. This fight was voted fight of the year by Ring Magazine and is still dubbed the “fight of the century” today. Like the third duel between the two opponents, it is considered an absolute classic among the heavyweight championships.

On January 22, 1973 Frazier lost the world title against George Foreman , the Olympic champion of 1968 and thus Frazier's successor, by TKO in the second round after a total of six knockdowns. The fight was called The Sunshine Showdown . Frazier, who had gone into the ring as the favorite, had obviously underestimated his opponent, did not seem trained and allowed himself to be caught early by the extraordinarily hard hitting Foreman and put on the defensive.

On January 28, 1974 Frazier competed in a World Cup eliminator for the second time against Ali and lost this 12-round fight unanimously on points. The fight was - compared to the first and third duel between the two opponents - regarded as less spectacular.

Even after the defeat by Foreman, Frazier no longer looked like the old, apparently indestructible "black tank". He tried now with (successfully completed) fights against the boxing technician Jimmy Ellis and against the boxer puncher Jerry Quarry to achieve another title fight. He had defeated both opponents before.

The third fight between Frazier and Ali on October 1, 1975, which was again about the world championship, which Ali sensationally won back against Frazier-conqueror George Foreman, became legendary. Ali won the so-called Thrilla in Manila by TKO after the 14th round after Frazier's right eye was swollen shut and his trainer Eddie Futch had therefore taken him out of the fight. This was probably against Frazier's will. In this spectacular, but also extremely tough, relentless and brutal fight, both boxers went to the extreme limit of their capabilities and were almost unable to fight in the end. The winner Ali also collapsed in the ring after the verdict was announced.

After Frazier failed on June 15, 1976 while attempting a rematch against George Foreman and had another knockout loss in round 5 - this fight was for the North American heavyweight championship - Frazier ended his career for the time being and worked in Philadelphia as Boxing coach. During this time he made the aforementioned guest appearance in the movie Rocky .

In 1981 he tried a comeback. However, since it was only enough to draw against Floyd Cummings, he finally resigned.

List of professional fights

32 wins (27 knockout wins), 4 defeats , 1 draw
year	Day	place	opponent	Result for Frazier
1965	August 16	Convention Hall, Philadelphia, USA	Woody Goss	Victory / TKO 1st round
	September 20th	Convention Hall, Philadelphia, USA	Mike Bruce	Victory / TKO 3rd round
	September 28th	Philadelphia Convention Hall, Philadelphia, USA	Ray Staples	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	November 11th	Philadelphia Auditorium, Philadelphia, USA	Abe Davis	Victory / KO 1st round
1966	January 17th	Convention Hall, Philadelphia, USA	Mel Turnbow	Victory / KO 1st round
	4th of March	Madison Square Garden , New York, USA	Dick Wipperman	Victory / TKO 5th round
	4. April	Philadelphia Auditorium, Philadelphia, USA	Charley Polite	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	April 28	Civic Arena , Pittsburgh, USA	Don Smith	Victory / KO 3rd round
	May 19th	Grand Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, USA	Chuck Leslie	Victory / KO 3rd round
	May 26	Grand Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, USA	Al Jones	Victory / KO 1st round
	July 25th	Convention Hall, Philadelphia, USA	Billy Daniels	Victory / abandonment 6th round
	21st September	Madison Square Garden , New York, USA	Óscar Bonavena	Points win (split decision) / 10 rounds
	21st November	Grand Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, USA	Eddie Do	Victory / TKO 10th round
1967	21st of February	Philadelphia Convention Hall, Philadelphia, USA	Doug Jones	Victory / KO 6th round
	11 April	Auditorium, Miami Beach, USA	Jefferson Davis	Victory / TKO 5th round
	May 4th	Grand Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, USA	George Johnson	Points victory (unanimously) / 10 rounds
	July 19	Madison Square Garden , New York, USA	George Chuvalo	Victory / TKO 4th round
	October 17th	Spectrum, Philadelphia, USA	Tony Doyle	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	December 18th	Boston Garden , Boston, USA	Marion Connor	Victory / TKO 3rd round
1968	4th of March	Madison Square Garden , New York, USA	Buster Mathis vacant NYSAC World Heavyweight Championship	Victory / TKO 11th round
	June 24th	Madison Square Garden , New York, USA	Manuel Ramos NYSAC Heavyweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 2nd round
	10th of December	Spectrum, Philadelphia, USA	Óscar Bonavena NYSAC Heavyweight Title Defense	Points victory (unanimously) / 15 rounds
1969	April 22	Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, USA	Dave Zyglewicz NYSAC Heavyweight Title Defense	Victory / KO 1st round
	23rd June	Madison Square Garden , New York, USA	Jerry Quarry NYSAC Heavyweight Title Defense	Victory / abandonment 7th round
1970	February 16	Madison Square Garden , New York, USA	Jimmy Ellis NYSAC / WBA Heavyweight Title Association vacant WBC World Heavyweight Championship	Victory / abandonment 4th round
	November 18	Cobo Center , Detroit, USA	Bob Foster WBA / WBC Heavyweight Title Defense	Victory / KO 2nd round
1971	8th of March	Madison Square Garden , New York, USA	Muhammad Ali WBA / WBC Heavyweight Title Defense	Points victory (unanimously) / 15 rounds
1972	15. January	Rivergate Auditorium, New Orleans, USA	Terry Daniels WBA / WBC Heavyweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 4th round
	25. May	Omaha Civic Auditorium, Omaha, USA	Ron Stander WBA / WBC Heavyweight Title Defense	Victory / abandonment 4th round
1973	22nd of January	Independence Park , Kingston, Jamaica	George Foreman WBA / WBC heavyweight title defense	Defeat / TKO 2nd round
	2nd July	Earls Court Exhibition Center , London, UK	Joe Bugner	Points win / 12 rounds
1974	January 28th	Madison Square Garden , New York, USA	Muhammad Ali NABF Heavyweight Championship	Loss of points (unanimously) / 12 rounds
	17th of June	Madison Square Garden , New York, USA	Jerry Quarry	Victory / TKO 5th round
1975	2nd March	St Kilda Junction Oval, Melbourne, Australia	Jimmy Ellis	Victory / TKO 9th round
	October 1	Araneta Coliseum , Quezon City, Philippines	Muhammad Ali WBA / WBC World Heavyweight Championship	Loss / abandonment 14th round
1976	15th June	Nassau Coliseum , Hempstead ( New York ), USA	George Foreman NABF Heavyweight Championship	Loss / TKO 5th round
1981	3rd of December	International Amphitheater , Chicago, USA	Floyd Cummings	Draw (majority decision) / 10 rounds
Source: Joe Frazier in the BoxRec database

After the resignation

Joe Frazier (center), April 2011

In 1990 Frazier was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame .

In 1996 he published his autobiography Smokin 'Joe ( ISBN 0-02-860847-X ). Much of the book deals with his rivalry with Muhammad Ali, whom he, ignoring his choice of name, stubbornly calls only Cassius Clay . Clay / Ali had repeatedly provoked Frazier before their mutual fights, some seriously insulted. He called Frazier the “white man's champion” because of his alleged lack of commitment to the black civil rights movement, called him Uncle Tom and “gorilla,” mocked his down-to-earth attitude and emphasized his (Ali's) supposed intellectual superiority. Frazier defended himself with occasionally hateful statements and repeatedly made malicious comments about Ali's serious illness, for example when Ali lit the Atlanta Olympic flame in 1996. In 2000 there was a surprising reconciliation meeting. At first sight it was about promoting the boxing match of both daughters ( Laila Ali and Jackie Frazier-Lyde ), which took place on June 8, 2001 in New York. (In the press conference that followed the “ Thrilla in Manila ”, Frazier and Ali had already spoken respectfully and self- deprecatingly from each other; see also #Last Honor . )

Joe Frazier's son Marvis Frazier , like his daughter Jackie Frazier-Lyde, was also active in boxing. A boxing school in Philadelphia that he had run with his son in the meantime was closed in 2008.

Awards and memberships

Joe Frazier was named "Boxer of the Year" three times (1967, 1970 and 1971) by the leading trade journal Ring Magazine . In addition, he was involved in no less than four fights that were awarded the attribute "Fight of the Year", twice as a winner (1969: Joe Frazier-Jerry Quarry I; 1971: Joe Frazier-Muhammad Ali I), twice as a loser (1973 : George Foreman-Joe Frazier I; 1975: Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier III). These awards, but above all his usually spectacular, offensive fighting style gave him a long-term popularity that extended far beyond the end of his active career, especially in his home country, the United States. Joe Frazier was a member of the Freemasons Association .

Last honor

Joe Frazier died of liver cancer on November 7, 2011 . At the memorial service in Philadelphia on November 14, 2011 , boxing legend Muhammad Ali , visibly marked by Parkinson's disease , stood up and applauded his companion and rival Frazier one last time.

Trivia

The Jamaican reggae and dancehall musician Dennis Alcapone immortalized Joe Frazier in his song Joe Frazier Round 2 with the lines: "Sharp as a razor is the man called Joe Frazier" ("Sharp as a razor is the man named Joe Frazier") .

Filmography (selection)

• 1975: Adventure of the Country Road - as Corp. Brooks ( Movin 'On , TV series, episode)
• 1976: Rocky - guest appearance as himself
• 1987: Ghost Fever, (also: Ghostfever) - as Terrible Tucker
• 1992: The Simpsons : Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes? - as himself, speaking role (TV series)
• 1994: Home of Angels - as Thadious
• 2005: Bocce Balls - as a boxing trainer
• 2006: The Simpsons : Homer's Paternity Coot - Himself, speaking role (TV series)
• 2011: Gregory Way TV (TV series, an episode)

literature

• Phil Pepe: Come out smokin ': Joe Frazier - the champ nobody knew . Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, New York 1972.

Web links

Commons : Joe Frazier  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Joe Frazier in the BoxRec database
• Joe Frazier in the BoxRec Encyclopaedia
• Joe Frazier in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Joe Frazier in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Famous Masons Lancaster and Districht Group of Lodges and Chapters
2. ↑ Joe Frazier loses his battle with cancer. In: The world . November 8, 2011, accessed November 12, 2011 . 
3. ↑ Burial of "Smokin 'Joe": Muhammad Ali gives Frazier last escort. In: Spiegel Online . November 15, 2011, accessed June 4, 2016 . 
4. ↑ Dennis Alcapone : Joe Frazier Round 2 on YouTube.