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In Memoriam
A Great Champion Goes Down
Smokin’ Joe — great champion, great American.
I like boxing. No apologies. I inherited the taste early from my father, who, along with all his blue-collar mates down at the plant, was a great fan of the sweet science in those pre-Marciano days.
Some years back, one of my community college students in a writing course, apparently laboring under the impression that I had some wisdom to impart, asked on the last day of class if I had any final advice. I think he was looking for something more general, but I told him there were three rules he should always follow, (1) use your jab, (2) throw combinations, and (3) work the body. He left somewhat puzzled.
Over the past half century I’ve watched some great fighters (and lots of palookas, of course). Smokin’ Joe Frazier, of Philadelphia and Beaufort, South Carolina, who we lost Monday to liver cancer, belongs in the first tier. A great fighter and a classy man, taken too early at 67.
Frazier’s great boxing career has been much remarked on, in TAS and elsewhere since his death. TAS-reading sports fans know of Frazier’s 1964 Olympic gold medal, and his championship years. His career is highlighted by three stupendous fights with Cassius Clay, AKA Muhammad Ali, AKA a lot of other stuff that can’t be printed here. Frazier was the first to defeat Ali when he outpointed him in 1971, decking Ali with a monster left hook in the last round.
The final Ali/Frazier fight in 1975, the famous “Thrilla in Manila,” is the most grueling fight anyone can remember. Joe couldn’t answer the bell in the final round of that one, and so lost. But it’s not altogether clear that Ali could have either. Post-fight, Ali said it was as close to dying as he had ever come. Doctors probably wouldn’t have given much for the chances of either of them at the end of what aficionados have no trouble calling the greatest fight in boxing history.
Frazier was a great champion, one of the fighters who along with Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, George Foreman, Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns, et al., made the seventies, melancholy in so many other respects, a great boxing decade. Perhaps not as great as the fifties, but memorable. It was a time when Americans knew and cared who the heavyweight champion was.
The dignified Frazier was always connected to the clownish Ali through both fighters’ long careers and afterward. But the two men could hardly have been more unalike. Ali was the consummate boxer with lighting fast hands, dazzling footwork, and great defensive skills. Frazier was the brawler. One of the hardest hitters in the history of the fight game who could be lethal inside, and who took a lot of punches to get there.
The differences weren’t just in fighting styles. Frazier was the un-Ali in all ways. He was the quiet foil to the ranting Ali. Joe never mugged in the ring (or out), never trash-talked his opponents, nor did silly little dances like Ali, the enfant terrible of the ring. Frazier was all business all the time. He just stalked his opponents relentlessly in the style of the great heavyweight he most resembled, Rocky Marciano. Smokin’ Joe and the Rock were both undersized heavyweights (today the Rock would fight in the cruiser weight division), with left hooks that could knock the moon out of its orbit.
Joe, one of 12 children, started out poor on a farm near Beaufort, much removed from young Cassius Clay’s privileged middle-class upbringing in Louisville. There he learned about hard work that stood him well in the ring. He quietly went about achieving excellence in a very unquiet line of work. Always being a good citizen.
Ali, of course, was quite the other thing. He dissed his country by dodging the draft on the basis of a phony religious claim. He dissed his sport by decades of outrageous behavior, including doping off in the ring, hot-dogging tastelessly out of it, and insulting his opponents, especially Frazier, who he called an Uncle Tom (an outrageous and baseless charge) and a gorilla.
Ali was prone, before his illness imposed quiet upon him, to spouting silly doggerel verse that some, inexplicably, referred to as poetry. He waxed at length about his own supposed prettiness. He engaged in every form of show-boating known to man. He was in fact a spoiled, perpetual adolescent never obliged to grow up. The man in the fight game Ali most closely resembled was Howard Cosell, another blowhard.
The press and much of the glitterati went for Ali’s act — much like magpies attracted to shiny things of questionable value. For me, his boxing skills aside, Ali was one of the most repellent public figures of my lifetime. I’ve found it impossible to take anyone seriously who takes Ali and his act seriously.
Ali demanded and received more of the world’s attention than Frazier did. So much the worse for the world. Ali was spawn of the self-indulgent, rock-besotted Me generation. Frazier represents the kind of adulthood that came before.
Frazier was Ali’s match as a fighter. And his better by far as a man. Joe Frazier respected his country and the boxing game and gave back to both with character as well as skill and courage. The quiet virtues Smokin’ Joe exhibited are the kind that build champions — and nations.
R.I.P. Smokin’ Joe. A great fighter. A great American. A champion.
About the Author
Larry Thornberry is a writer in Tampa.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (53) | Leave a comment
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Bill L.| 11.9.11 @ 6:30AM
Thank you, Mr. Thornberry. Your articles are always worth reading, but this is a compelling eulogy indeed.
Alan Brooks| 11.9.11 @ 4:51PM
Boxing isn't a sport- it is merely beating people up; it ought to be outlawed.
Alan Brooks| 11.9.11 @ 5:32PM
This what you think:
"the bloodier the negro, the better the boxing match."
WilliamInWien| 11.9.11 @ 6:43AM
I am in total agreement! To paraphrase: Once we had boxers who were champions, now we have champions who want to be boxers; which is part of the reason why boxing has declined in popularity in the USA. Ali and Cossel fed off each other and helped turn a sport into entertainment only. Long Live Joe's Legend: King of the Left Hook!
Alan Brooks| 11.9.11 @ 4:52PM
To Hell with boxing.
Richard Baker| 11.9.11 @ 6:56AM
RIP, Smoking Joe. Your kind doesn't exist in the "sweet science" anymore. We are the lesser for your passing.
Alan Brooks| 11.9.11 @ 4:56PM
"the lesser for your passing"; what a crock- the world is lesser because Frazier died? you are so full of it, it is coming out of your nose. The world was a better place after Ty Cobb died, and perhaps will be better now that Frazier is dead. May boxing be KOed someday.
Boxing is for rubes who live, say, in Tampa Florida.
Moe Blotz| 11.9.11 @ 7:08AM
Something Joe Frazier would never do was address or refer to Muhammad Ali by that Muslim name. Joe Frazier always called his antagonist by his given name Cassius Clay, and it aggravated the @(#*$&^% out of the latter.
Earl Nesmith| 11.9.11 @ 4:44PM
You have no clue. It was Ernie Terrell and Floyd Patterson who refused to call him 'Ali'. During the prep for the first fight, Joe called him 'Clay'. But not after.
Alan Brooks| 11.9.11 @ 4:58PM
May boxing be hit hard below the belt and expire.
KyPerson| 11.9.11 @ 8:02AM
In my state where Ali is a demi-god, I much prefer boxers like Frazier and the late Floyd Patterson for the reasons you gave, Mr. Thornberry. Both were MEN. Ali was an adolescent.
Alan Brooks| 11.9.11 @ 4:59PM
Maybe you just like blacks punching each other out?
nister| 11.9.11 @ 8:50AM
RIP, Joe. You deserve a tribute..what you got here was a thinly veiled attack on Ali by some low-class hack.
As for boxing..never gave it another look after seeing Wilfredo Benitez's title given to Ray Leonard, who clearly didn't beat Wilfredo.
ElPuma25| 11.9.11 @ 10:44AM
Wow, 1979. I'm surprised somone remembers "El Radar" one of the most gifted fighters ever.
I'm still a fan, and there have been a few great fights of late, but I will have to say I still consider the 70's and 80's some of the best years in boxing.
Now, I was a fan of Benitez back then and even the stoppage was premature, I couldn't say he was robbed. Had he trained more than 1 week for that fight, the line in the article above would have said "Ali, Wilfredo Benitez, Roberto Duran, George Foreman, Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns, et al
nister| 11.9.11 @ 2:33PM
ABC wanted Leonard, Benitez couldn't deliver ratings for ABC's new boxing show.
I don't have the time to look up the facts [off to work], but I think we must be remembering different fights.
Alan Brooks| 11.9.11 @ 5:00PM
May all boxers croak- and their "sport" (bloodsport) too.
Occam's Tool| 11.9.11 @ 1:19PM
Ali is an asshole, Joe was a great man. The quality of a man is determined by the character and quality of his enemies. Draft-dodging, cowardly, racist endorsing, philandering Muhammad Ali is not worth, as a man, as much as Frazier's used jock-strap.
Alan Brooks| 11.9.11 @ 5:02PM
Draft-dodging was the best thing Ali ever did- he should get a medal for dodging LBJ's hideous abortion called the Vietnam War.
W| 11.9.11 @ 5:34PM
I agree 100% with you Occam.
The media portrayed Ali as the counter culture hero because he refused to serve and his Vietnam War opposition.
As for a pure fighting machine, Mike Tyson would have beat Ali.
Alan Brooks| 11.9.11 @ 6:27PM
How many tours of duty did Frazier serve in 'Nam?
Steve| 11.10.11 @ 9:40AM
Same as you Brooks
Alan Brooks| 11.10.11 @ 1:52PM
Good for him!
Frank Drackman| 11.9.11 @ 8:52AM
Any old Fogies out there who can tell me how Cassius got out of Military Service???
Checked the Wikipedia, but its not really clear...
I hated Cassius Clay with a passion you rarely find in an 11 year old...
I remember goin to bed, comfortable that MY hero, George Foreman, the Biggest Baddest Mo-(Hush Yo' mouth')in the planet was gonna pound Clay into the Kinshasha dirt...
Spent the mid 70's cheering for one false hope after another (remember the horror that was Jean-Piere'-Coopman?)
and I'll insist to my last breath that Jimmy Young won in 1976..
but I was stupid enough to come back for Clay-Norton, which I had to listen to on radio(the "Good" old days weren't really that good) cause they didn't show the replay on wild world of sports till the next weekend...
and by the time Leon Spinks beat him in 1978 I had moved on to better thangs..
WRESTLING!
Frank
ElPuma25| 11.9.11 @ 10:55AM
Not that old to remember this, but i believe he claimed a "Conscientious objection" based on him being a "minister" of his religion (he had by then converted to Islam). He did not get the dispensation and was charged. His case went to review and was later cleared of the charges. The boxing athletic commision in the meantime then stip him of his title and revoked his license. It took 3+ years for his to get his license back.
Brian B| 11.9.11 @ 11:35AM
--and I'll insist to my last breath that Jimmy Young won in 1976--
I don't know how anyone watching that fight could have believed otherwise.
One of the worst robberies I've ever seen in the ring.
Alan Brooks| 11.9.11 @ 5:04PM
"and I'll insist to my last breath that Jimmy Young won in 1976."
Hope your last breath comes sooner, so you can be with Frazier in Hell sooner rather than later.
c. j. acworth| 11.9.11 @ 9:06AM
I'm not a sports historian, but as a kid growing up I remember Ali as the one who really started the whole "trash-talk" business of running down your opponents with your mouth. I was always happy to see someone shut him up, wether it was Frazier, Norton, or whoever.
Frank Drackman| 11.9.11 @ 9:31AM
and it was the 70's so nobody noticed, but Cassius was also quite the Homo-Fobe...
I distinctly remember a Wild World of Sports segment before one of his bouts, where he insinuated that his opponent(and it was one of those European Pugs who probably WAS a homo) was a little light in the Boxing Shoes...
But it was a different error, where a Draft Dodging Black Supremacist could call another Black Man a "Gorilla" and not get a nasty-gram from the NAACP...
Frank
WilliamInWien| 11.9.11 @ 9:52AM
As I recall, one of the European stiffs Ali fought was not a "stiff". I believe it was the German Karl Mildenberger who hurt Ali so badly that Angelo Dundee was forced to spilt Ali's glove with a razor to give Ali time to recover and go on to beat Mildenberger. As a customs inspector, I cleared Ali into the USA decades ago. He was quiet, polite and unassuming while his entourage, including Bundini Brown, made all the noise.
Earl Nesmith| 11.9.11 @ 4:48PM
It was Henry Cooper. He dropped Ali and when he returned to the corner, Dundee exploited a tear that was in the glove already.
WilliamInWien| 11.9.11 @ 5:38PM
True about Cooper, but Mildenberger might well have finished off Ali if the bout was not delayed by Dundee's tactics.
Alan Brooks| 11.9.11 @ 5:08PM
Look at Thornberry's photo, he's a meatball who lives vicariously through blacks beating each other up- something Southern 'gentlemen' get off on:
"the bloodier the negro, the better the boxing match."
WilliamInWien| 11.9.11 @ 5:42PM
I guess you never saw Chuck Wepner, the "Bayonne Bleeder" fight (not box)?
Alan Brooks| 11.9.11 @ 11:41PM
No thanks, esp. while eating a juicy steak.
W| 11.9.11 @ 9:49AM
I agree that Frazier was as good, if not better, than Ali as a fighter.
I don't understand the great press and almost worship that Ali receives. He mocked his opponents, such as great fighterrs like Floyd Patterson and Frazier and Foreman. He said gibberish like "the Cong never hurt me." I suspect he got the great press because of his anti-Vietnam statements and refusal to serve which was consistent and approved by the media.
Frank Drackman| 11.9.11 @ 10:25AM
I think the quote was
"No Vietcong ever called me Nigger"
which was ironic, cause today you can go to any large city in America and find lots of Vietcong..
well, Vietnamese who's grand-papa-sans were Vietcong, and they'll call you the N-word all day long...
Doctor Right| 11.9.11 @ 11:57AM
Ali was that rare sports personality who was "larger than life".
The era in which he was at his peak - the mid 60's to mid 70's - was a defining time period in our nation's history. And Ali is rightly inserted into that history.
Love him or hate him, he was "the GREATEST of ALL TIME"...
Not the greatest puncher, or the greatest fighter, but the GREATEST BOXER...and that doesn't just include his ring skills.
He transcended sports, and SI rightly named him "Athlete of the Century" in 2001.
W| 11.9.11 @ 12:34PM
Outside the ring, Ali opposed the Vietnam War, refused to serve in the military, was the first major athlete to convert to Islam and change his name, and made a career bantering with Howard Cosell. Now he has sympathy because of his illness. The MSM loved him because of his anti-Vietnam stance. I never liked him.
Remember the rumors that the first Liston fight was fixed because Sonny Liston quit because his shoulder hurt?
Mike Tyson in his prime would have beat Ali in his prime. Interesting to discuss who would win.
I think they did a computer matchup of all the boxers and had Marciano or Louis beating Ali.
DatsunMark| 11.9.11 @ 3:44PM
And for Clay it all started with Liston took a dive and gave Clay the championship in 64....it was and still is a racket.
Roger Fortier | 11.9.11 @ 9:53AM
Yes.
PCC| 11.9.11 @ 10:12AM
Another beautiful tribute to an extraordinary champion. It is Joe Frazier's curse to be defined by his relationship to Muhammed Ali.
R.I.P. Smokin' Joe Frazier. God bless you.
Joe R| 11.9.11 @ 10:39AM
Even in death the great Jee Frazier gets disrespected. Couldn't you have used the picture of him knocking Ali down in their first fight instead of one of him being hit by Ali? Pitiful.
Joe D| 11.9.11 @ 11:01AM
Great Article. I too loved Joe Fraizer and detested Ali for all the things he said and did.
MikeBee| 11.9.11 @ 11:04AM
Clay/Ali was the first Dennis Rodman. All marketing genius, backed up by excellent defensive skills. Joe Frazier was a true boxer, and a gentleman. Missed the fight where he beat Ali, and wish I could find a CD of the fight, just to see it. Manila should have been a draw.
Here's hoping the Pugilism makes a comeback, and loses the WWF-type marketing crap.
Butch| 11.9.11 @ 5:08PM
Saw a TV documentary on the Thrilla one day. Ali was asking his manager to cut his gloves off before the 15th round. I think Frazier beat him at least two out of three, and maybe three out of three. After all, the mighty Ali was Ali. He got the benefit of the doubt, always.
Doctor Right| 11.9.11 @ 11:53AM
Great article about a great boxer...
But WHY did TASOnline use a picture of Frazier getting his melon caved-in by Ali in the article's header???
C'mon, guys! Couldn't you have found a more heroic image for Smokin' Joe???
Mistral| 11.9.11 @ 12:06PM
I thank my father (RIP) for giving me a love and admiration for the boxer. We watched many matches together over my young years and I still love and admire boxers. Unlike other forms of combat, boxing is a true art form with only gloved fists allowed together with how the boxer employs his other talents & natural gifts strategically as silent weapons. Smokin' Joe was greatly admired by us both: his courage, the motivation, the perpetual coming forward, the superb left and right which pivotted so powerfully from the body. At the same time, off stage he was dignified, open and good-humoured. He was a great boxer, a combatant of immense strength and valour whose reputation is absolutely definable without Cassius Clay being called upon to vaidate his calibre as a pugilistic opponent. I will never forget the defeat he gave Clay. It was superb and stinging. He made a fundamentally disrespectful, conceited and immature opponent eat humble pie for the first time. CC shook his vain head in denial once too often during that memorable bout. It was a lesson no one who loves boxing will ever forget.
Moreover, Frazier had many memorable fights and gave everything he had to the sport he loved. Yes, he was a gentleman and a bigger person for it.
May God rest his soul in peace
Anyone who missed that fight can relive it here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_y7FiCryb8
Earl Nesmith| 11.9.11 @ 5:01PM
Most of you either don't know or have forgotten the problems had in starting in earnest in '62. With the death of Benny Kid Paret in his bout with Emil Griffith, there were rumblings about outlawing boxing.
Cassius Clay was a figure you loved or loved to hate. He is on record as having watched wrestler 'Gorgious' George and thought this would garner attention to him. Being boastful and brash, he did.
He fought Sonny Liston, yet another that people hated as Heavyweight Champion. He won then converted to Islam. Did object to participating in the Viet Nam war, which just a few years later went national in its opposition.
I was a fan of Ali. Still am. But Joe Frazier and Ali are measured against one another. You recognize each one's greatness holding them against one another. In as much as people don't know greatness anymore, it is measured against the best of those in that time. Joe and Ali were the best. The fight in 1971 was 'The Fight of the Century'. I will go so far as to say there was NO event in sports that can even be measured against the magnitude and anticipation that was exceeded by the event itself.
Just a thought...
rodeoamy| 11.9.11 @ 6:33PM
Nice article, but calling someone an Uncle Tom is never a "baseless charge". It's an insult, pure and simple. Or can you think of an instance where you'd agree that someone is an Uncle Tom?
PCP Smoker| 11.9.11 @ 7:54PM
Larry, once again, hitting it out of the park. Thanks for giving props to a great and dignified fighter.
E. J. Whiteley| 11.9.11 @ 9:50PM
I grew up watching most of the great boxing bouts that Mr. Thornberry alludes to, and admire his personal quality of excellence with his tribute to Smokin Joe and his legacy. Right On, Larry! Cassius Clay's antics in the ring and his draft dodging decision pulled down the sport of ring boxing to a level where it has yet to recover from. May Smokin Joe Rest In Peace!!
Cato the Younger| 11.10.11 @ 11:11PM
After all these bouquets for Smokin' Joe, all very much deserved, let us pause a moment to reconsider the brooding malevolence of Charles 'Sonny' Liston. What an unforgettable spectacle he was, skipping rope on The Ed Sullivan Show to "Night Train"!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXSJIxIe_AE
What a beast.