RIP Joe Frazier

[JR]

Lovely tribute by Stephen Brunt on Frazier.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/more/2011/11/08/brunt_frazier/

 

[Huggy]

Lovely tribute by Stephen Brunt on Frazier.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/more/2011/11/08/brunt_frazier/

Lovely tribute by Stephen Brunt on Frazier.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/more/2011/11/08/brunt_frazier/

Frazier gets a huge chapter in Brunt's terrific book, Facing Ali. Definitely worth looking for for anyone who thought they had read everything there was to read about Ali.

 

[Second Thoughts]

A champion boxer overshadowed by Ali. RIP Smokin' Joe.

 

[finishthehat]

YF: Not only did Sinatra take pictures, but Burt Lancaster was one of the color announcers on the theater TV broadcast of the event, which cost $15 to get into (a pretty considerable sum in 1971 for a college kid) and was worth every penny and then some.
Lancaster was better than Tony Siragusa, but not by much.

And James Taylor and his band got tickets because MSG had to reschedule their concert, according to a documentary I saw. Taylor laughed about how bad the tickets were that they got.

 

[Fly]

Sinatra at ringside taking pictures for Life magazine because he couldn't get a ticket.

What? That sounds like a great story. Can you tell me more or provide a link?

One thing I've learned over the years is to never question Huggy's knowledge of boxing and porn history.

He doesn't know jack-shirt about junior hockey, however.

RIP Smokin' Joe. Another childhood icon down.

 

[Huggy]

Smokin' Joe was lots of things: great heavyweight champ, trainer, song and dance man, commercial pitchman etc. What he wasn't was a swimmer. Here are the swimming heats from the 1973 Superstars, some memories here for those of us of a certain vintage.

 

[Drip]

Ali was a cruel man when boxing was involved, often needlessly so. It's part of his greatness as a fighter people prefer to ignore.
Ragu, Futch had to throw in the towel. His fighter couldn't see. The second fight was judged a draw by me, for what that's worth.

I am not arguing that Futch shouldn't have thrown in the towel. But what they didn't know was that Ali came back to his corner and was begging Angelo Dundee to cut his gloves off and call the fight, too. He could barely stand and was ready to give up. After Futch threw in the towel, Ali stood up and fell right down to the canvas exhausted. Neither fighter was fit to go on, but Ali got the decision, because Futch threw in the towel. Ali won the fight. But they fought each other to exhaustion and if Futch had actually listened to Frazier and let him go back out there, the outcome might have been different because Ali was in bad shape.

They were showing on ESPN this morning Ali getting up from his stool at the start of the 15th and he looked like death. His eyes were totally unfocused and he could barely stand. Not saying he wouldn't have been able to snap into it if he saw Frazier, but looked like he was done.

If I remember right, after the fight, Ali stayed in bed for the whole night and the entire next day, while Frazier went out and partied.

I don't remember Joe partying.
As for Futch throwing in the towel, he did the right thing. He just threw it in BEFORE Ali quit.

 

[J.T. Pinch]

Overlooked is the fact that Ali had been inactive from the ring for three and a half years leading up to the first Frazier fight. A full four years had elapsed since Ali had last fought for the heavyweight title due to his suspension from boxing. Drafted into the Army nine months shy of this 26th birthday, Ali was at the time, in the prime of his boxing life and just beginning to reach the pinnacle of his athletic prowess. After dominating the seemingly invincible Sonny Liston a second time, many fight fans claimed Ali was the greatest heavyweight ever. The quickness and speed that were Ali's hallmarks ("he couldn't have been hit with a bucket of birdseed.") were severally compromised by the layoff. I don't think it is a stretch to say that had Ali been allowed to continue his career uninterrupted, that Joe Frazier wouldn't have stood a chance against him.

 

[YankeeFan]

Yeah, that's a shame.

That Ted Williams guy might have put up some numbers too if not for his military service.

 

[Drip]

Coulda, woulda and shoulda isn't in the dictionary. Fact is the Ali-Frazier triology was classic.

 

[Double J]

Yeah, that's a shame.

That Ted Williams guy might have put up some numbers too if not for his military service.

Best possible response.

 

[Small Town Guy]

Read Kram, Brunt, Liebling, Remnick, Sugar, whoever.

This is the final word:

http://www.boxinginsider.com/headlines/classic-biofile-remembering-smokin-joe-frazier-1944-2011/