Smokin' Joe Frazier

Smokin Joe Frazier still trains everyday at his gym in PhiladelphiaBACKGROUND/BIOGRAPHY
 Smokin’ Joe Frazier was born Joseph William Frazier in Beaufort, South Carolina on January 12 1944. He is considered one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. Like other Black Americans, Joe escaped the poverty of the South and headed north first to New York and then to the industrial city of Philadelphia when he was 15. Frazier was "discovered" by local Philadelphia trainer Yancey "Yank" Durham. Durham, along with veteran trainer Willie Reddish, began to train Frazier as an amateur. Frazier won the gold medal in the heavyweight category at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Despite having won Olympic Gold, Joe returned to Philadelphia and his fulltime job at a meat packing factory. A group of local Philadelphia businessmen set up the Cloverlay Group to fund Joe’s training fulltime and help him turn pro, which he did in 1965.

FRAZIER & ALI
In 1968, New York State recognised Joe Frazier as “world champion” after his 11th round knock-out of Buster Mathis. Though not officially recognised as a world championship fight, Smokin’ Joe had staked his claim on the world heavyweight title. The New York Boxing Commission decided to hold this contest  because Muhammad Ali had been stripped of his title after having refused the draft for Vietnam on religious and political grounds.

In 1970, in a 5th round knockout, Smokin’ Joe Frazier became Heavyweight Champion of the World after defeating Jimmy Ellis.

It was not until a year later that he was facing Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden for what was called The Fight of the Century. Not only because two undefeated champions were going head-to-head but because the American public identified the boxers with different sides of the Vietnam argument. Ali pitched himself as the anti-war, Nation of Islam fighter while making Frazier out to be the “white man’s champion.” The criticism that Ali heaped on Frazier only helped fuel the rivalry and the political divide in the country at that time.

They went the distance and Frazier floored Ali in the 15th round. Despite the taunts and jeers Smokin' Joe won by unanimous decision.

Frazier says that during the fight, Ali said to him, “Joe, you can't beat me! Don’t you know I’m God?” and Frazier replied, “Lord, you in the wrong place tonight”.

This was the first of their three fights. They faced each other again in 1974 (New York) and 1975 (the Thrilla in Manila) with Ali winning both fights.

FRAZIER & FOREMAN
In 1973, Frazier faced George Foreman in Kingston, Jamaica only to lose his undefeated record and World Heavyweight Title after six knock-downs by the second round forced officials to stop the fight. In the film, Foreman says, "People remember me knocking Joe down six times, but they forget that he kept getting up. He kept getting up!"

They met again in 1976, where again, Foreman beat Frazier in a fifth round knock-out.To this day, Joe regards Foreman as one of the world’s toughest fighters.

FRAZIER'S RECORD
Frazier's record is 32 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw, with 27 knockout wins; winning 73% of his fights by knockout. For the full, detailed boxing record, click here.

RETIREMENT
Smokin’ Joe Frazier retired from boxing in 1981. However he did train his son, Marvis, who faced Larry Holmes in 1983 losing by TKO for the heavyweight title and then lost to Mike Tyson by knockout in 1986.

TODAY
Sadly, Smokin' Joe Frazier passed on 7 November 2011, a few nights before he had planned to attend the film's screening at DOC NYC.