If you are a true old-school boxing fan, you know where you watched the third Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight, a.k.a. “The Thrilla in Manila.”
One of the greatest memories of my childhood came on October 1, 1975 when my father took me to the Riverside Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to see the live closed circuit showing of the best fight in boxing history.
I was just 10 years old at the time, but I wasn’t too young to recognize true greatness when I saw it. These two great rivals pounded on each other for 14 rounds to the point where neither one of them could barely stand.
Muhammad Ali won the fight by technical knockout when Frazier’s trainer Eddie Futch would not let him come out for the 15th round. At the time of the stoppage, Frazier literally could not see out of either eye. He was basically blind. Yet, he wanted to get back out there and finish the fight.
That was the essence of Joe Frazier.
In sports, people like to throw out the phrase “he’s a warrior” at every opportunity. Sometimes, we are a little too loose with the term “warrior” when it comes to our sports heroes.
Not when it comes to Smokin’ Joe, who passed away on Monday night from liver cancer. He was 67. Frazier was diagnosed in September and admitted to hospice care last weekend before his death.
The boxing world lost one of its greatest champions on Monday night. It also lost one of its greatest warriors. When Smokin’ Joe came to the ring, he came to fight. When you paid your money to see Smokin’ Joe, you were never cheated because he put every ounce of heart and soul into every round he fought.
Joe Frazier was the blue-collar, working man’s champion who settled down in Philadelphia after spending the first 15 years of his life in Beaufort, South Carolina. In a blue-collar town, Frazier was one of Philly’s greatest sports heroes. He was a punishing puncher who took great pride in working the opponent’s body before unleashing his signature punch: the left hook.
Frazier’s left hook was one of the most dangerous weapons in the history of the sport. The left hook helped him win an Olympic gold medal in Toyko in 1964 when he defeated German heavyweight Hans Huber. It helped him win the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world in 1970 when he knocked out Jimmy Ellis in the fifth round.
The most famous left hook in the history of boxing also dropped Ali in the 15th round of the first Ali-Frazier superfight in Madison Square Garden in 1971. It enabled Frazier to hand Ali his first loss and retain his championship in the first battle of undefeated heavyweight champions.
Frazier managed to cut his niche as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time despite fighting in the Golden Era of heavyweights in the late 1960s and ‘70s. In an era that was dominated by the greatness and flamboyance of Ali, plus the likes of George Foreman, Ken Norton, Ernie Shavers, Frazier proved over and over that he was one bad man.
Even in defeat, Frazier was the subject of perhaps the most famous call in boxing history when Howard Cosell screamed, “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!” during his loss to George Foreman in Kingston, Jamaica in 1973.
In those great Ali-Frazier fights, I made no bones about rooting for Muhammad Ali, who I feel is the greatest of all time. However, part of the reason why Ali is the greatest was because he had a contemporary rival such as Joe Frazier who pushed him beyond the limits of humanity to bring out the greatness of him. These two men will be forever connected to each other because of their three epic fights.
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