|
|
|
|
|
Frazier remembered for beating Ali
By Daniel Dullum November 8, 2011 |
|||
|
|
|||
|
Smoking Joe Frazier, who we lost at age 67 to cancer a couple of days ago, will be remembered as an excellent boxer and was a pretty good heavyweight. He was light for a heavyweight -- he fought at 205 lbs. But he was a tremendous puncher, his left hook in particular. He was just tenacious, he would just stand in there, and there was no fancy dancing with Frazier. He fought the full three minutes of every round he ever fought. He will always be best remembered as the first man who to defeat Muhammad Ali, who said, "the world has lost a great champion. I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration." I remember that first fight of the century very well,l I was a freshman in high school it's hard to imagine now what a big deal that was at the time. That fight was much anticipated as Ali was continuing his comeback after not being allowed to fight for three years due to his stand (not honoring the military draft) against the Vietnam War. It was a decision and everyone knew that Frazier had won the fight. As a matter of fact Ali was in the hospital a little bit after that after the fight. Frazier won the fight but he took a pretty good pounding himself. Frazier and Ali were really tied at the hip, publically speaking, because of that fight and they fought two more times. Ali won both of those -- the one rematch in New York and of course the Thrilla in Manila where they fought in the morning in tremendous heat, humidity and that was in 1975. That day, both fighters nearly didn't finish. Frazier he was a good champion and had a good career, unfortunately he also had a little financial trouble down the road, which sometimes happens. But Frazier kept his chin up and he was trying to do right by people towards the end. And, as much as he disliked Ali, he did finally forgive him for all the trash talk in the past in an interview a few months ago. Someone asked him about Ali and he said he forgave him, saying, "he's in a bad way right now." That's kind of the way Frazier approached life, he wouldn't kick somebody when they were down. The cancer that he had it moved in on Frazier quickly. He fought it as well as he could/ It's hard to imagine at 67 he's gone but what a life. Howard Cosell called boxing long before he got involved with Monday Night Football and heavyweight boxing was still a marquee sport in those days I'm not so sure it is now. There is still some allure when a heavyweight comes up it's not like back in the day when all these big heavyweight fighters had a big fight lined up. There was still some panache to professional boxing back in the day, but mixed martial arts has kind of taken over people's imagination. In the '20s, '30s, and '40s the premier sports that people followed back was primarily baseball, boxing, horse racing, and college football. Times change and now it's mixed martial arts, pro football, college football, I suppose the NBA if they ever play again, and the hard cores that still follow baseball. But it's a way to escape the realities of life, and the sports that fans follow will evolve and change with the times. Daniel Dullum does Sports Commentary for Sportstalk radio |
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||