Joe Frazier was a heavyweight force in the early seventies. He was the first man to beat Muhammad Ali and his only losses were to Ali and George Foreman.
Back when being heavyweight champion meant something, Smokin' Joe Frazier was the heavyweight champion. From March 1968 when he won the New York State Heavyweight Championship against Buster Mathis, to his January 1973 knockout loss to Big George Foreman, Frazier fought and beat the best fighters of the era, and put himself in the history books, as well as the Hall of Fame, in the process.
Frazier and Ali Forever Linked
The name "Frazier" will be always linked with Muhammad Ali and their historic trio of fights, though Frazier deserves credit for more than simply being Ali's foil. He unified a division left in shambles when Ali was stripped of his title on April 28, 1967 for draft evasion. As a champion, Frazier ducked no one. Among the world class fighters he defeated:
- Oscar Bonavena: Decision 10
- Buster Mathis: KO 11
- Doug Jones: KO 6
- George Chuvalo: TKO 4
- Oscar Bonavena: Decision 15
- Jerry Quarry: TKO 7
- Jimmy Ellis TKO: 5
- Muhammad Ali: Decision 15
Injury Creates Famous Left Hook
Frazier was best known for his crushing left hook, a punch that may have been made more effective by a childhood accident. As Frazier tells the story in his autobiography, "Smokin' Joe" (1996, MacMillan, pg 10) a young Frazier was being chased by a 300 pound hog he had been teasing when he tripped and fell, his left arm landing on a brick. The accident left his arm unable to extend, permanently cocked for a left hook.
Frazier's most famous hook is the one he dropped Ali with in round 15 of their first fight at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971. Ali, back from his forced layoff, had already been badly shaken by a left in the eleventh, but managed to stay on his feet. Four rounds later both men were exhausted, but Frazier, never taking a backward step, caught Ali with his famous hook as "The Mouth from the South" backed away. The punch sent Ali sprawling and virtually assured Frazier of victory.
The two fought twice more with Ali winning a disputed decision in January 1974 at Madison Square Garden and finally "The Thrilla in Manila" on October 1, 1975 in Quezon City, The Philippines. It was in this fight, the story goes, that Frazier's trainer, Eddie Futch, infamously stopped the fight after the fourteenth round, even as Ali was telling his own trainer, Angelo Dundee, that he didn't want to continue.
Ali Calls Frazier an Uncle Tom
Unfortunately, many of Frazier's accomplishments were tarnished by the cloud of accusations from Ali--who was deep in the throes of his Black Muslim faith during this time--that Frazier was an"Uncle Tom," a willing slave to white men, and had more or less abandoned his race.
Frazier responded by refusing to call Ali by his Muslim name, preferring his given name of Cassius Clay. It can be argued that the bitterness between the two contributed to their becoming the highest paid fighters in the history of the sport to that time, but it can also be argued that it set the civil rights movement--in the world of sports, at least--back several years, if not decades.
Foreman Knocks Out Frazier
In June of 1976, Frazier tried once again met George Foreman in the ring, with a little better effort, but the same result. In their first fight, Foreman knocked Frazier down six times in two rounds to lift Frazier's World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association belts. The second time around Frazier, who by then was almost blind in one eye from cataracts, got dropped twice in a fifth round TKO loss.
Frazier retired with a record of 32-4-1 (27) and was elected into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1980.
