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FRAZIER WAS A CHAMPION TO THE END

Frazier was a champion to the end

The last time I saw Joe Frazier was in August at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention in Philadelphia. He was there to be honored by the organization with a Pioneer Award in recognition of his celebrated boxing career.

He was dressed sharply and had plenty of smiles to share as he took his place among the other honorees, including former Temple basketball coach John Chaney. A few months earlier, Frazier was at Madison Square Garden, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd in recognition of the 40th anniversary of his first fight with Muhammad Ali.

DEFINING MOMENT: In one of the biggest sporting events in American sports history—Frank Sinatra took pictures from ringside in Madison SquareGarden—Joe Frazier beat Muhammad Ali by decision after knocking him down in the 15th round (above) in 1971.

It came a little late, but Frazier finally was receiving the honors and recognition for a boxing career that had been overshadowed by Ali. It’s a shame it took so long to give proper respect to a man who had as much to do with helping heavyweight boxing thrive in the 1960s and 1970s as Ali.
For how could we truly know Ali’s greatness if not for Frazier, who died last night at age 67 after a short bout with liver cancer?
Born in South Carolina on Jan. 12, 1944, he won the gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and became the heavyweight champion in 1970 by beating Buster Mathis and Jimmy Ellis after Ali was stripped of the title for not entering the draft.
Frazier’s aggressive, hunched-over style wasn’t as pretty as the dancing feet of Ali. He won with relentless pressure and a devastating left hook that would drop Ali in the 15th round of their Fight of the Century at the Garden on March 8, 1971. Frazier won a unanimous decision that night in the greatest performance of his career -- and one of the greatest battles ever in the sport.
But by then Frazier had been cast as an anti-hero, an establishment symbol at a time when Americans were in protest over the Vietnam War. Frazier would eventually lose his title to George Foremanin 1973, and Ali would narrowly win their next two fights -- the third the brutal and legendary “Thrilla in Manila” -- and receive the adoration of a public that came to appreciate the courage Ali showed by standing on his principles.
Ali would be mostly silenced by Parkinson’s disease, making him even more of a sympathetic figure, while Frazier silently struggled with his own financial and health issues.
In recent years, his hatred of Ali, who taunted Frazier mercilessly, had softened. He told me this in March:
“I don’t have the burning hate anymore,” he said. “I hope he lives a pleasant part of his life. We all don’t make three scores and 10. But with the little time we have left, I’d like to live it clean and live it fine and enjoy some of the things we all like to enjoy. I can’t see nothing wrong with that. I’m hoping he can do these things, too.”
Frazier did not know then he had only months to live. He walked with a cane, but talked about getting his singing group together and doing some touring.
“Everything in the old body still works,” he said. “I’ve still got two legs, two hands, and two feet. I just need to do a little running.”
He cherished the outcome of that first Garden fight; being the first to beat Ali, being the first to drop him in the 15th.
“I remember all of the moments,” he said. “Number 1, it was one of the greatest things that ever happened in sports. It was one of those times that something great happened in our life. You’re always going to remember that.”
We will always remember Joe Frazier.