Former Heavyweight Champion Joe Frazier was one of the greatest boxers of all-time. Everyone knows his name, but do we all really know how good he was?
Smokin' Joe won the 1964 Olympic Gold Medal over in Japan, competing in the heavyweight division. In 3 years as an amateur (1962-64) he lost 1 bout.
He went on to amass a ridiculous 32-4-1 record as a professional. In fact he began his pro career 29-0 with wins over Buster Mathis, Oscar Bonavena (twice), and in "The Fight of the Century" in 1971 he defeated Muhammad Ali to cap off his 29-0 start. The fight was the first ever to feature two undefeated champions. Ali was 31-0 and coming off a 3 year suspension while Frazier was 28-0.
You wonder how many times these guys could have squared off if Ali was around in the late 1960s, although I'm not sure we really needed to see too many more rounds between these two all-time greats.
Frazier would finish his career 4-4-1 with two losses each to Ali and George Foreman. In all he went 41 rounds with Ali and another 7 with Foreman. The fact is he didn't match up well at all with Foreman (who did?) being 4 inches shorter.
Smokin Joe Frazier was born in South Carolina but became the pride of Philadelphia. He was one of the toughest athletes ever and will be remembered as one of the greatest boxing champions of all-time. If anyone was ever a badass it was him.
R.I.P. Joe Frazier.
-Keefe
1 comment:
Smokin Joe never got the respect he deserved but may he rest in peace.
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