?Joe Frazier would come out smoking. If you hit him, he liked it. If you knocked him down, you only made him mad.? ? George Foreman
Former world heavyweight champion Joe Frazier wants to visit the Philippines. Leslie Wolff, chief executive officer of Smart Marketing Group in Frazier?s hometown of Philadelphia, has been inquiring how best to go about his return to the site of his most memorable fight, the ?Thrilla in Manila? and fan the flames of history alive once again. In a series of e-mails to Department of Tourism Assistant Secretary for Sports and Wellness Cynthia Carrion, Wolff inquired how best to bring Smokin? Joe back to the Philippines.
?We?re looking at proposals closely, because there will be some cost involved in bringing him over,? Carrion told The STAR. ?But people still remember that fight.?
Frazier, who turned 64 in January, was well-known for his lumbering, bobbing style that chopped down many an opponent. Soon after his 20th birthday, Frazier won the heavyweight gold medal in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, four years after Ali (then Cassius Clay) won the light heavyweight gold in Rome. Turning pro, Frazier then went on to win four fights in 1965, none of them going past three rounds.
In 1966 and 1967, Frazier remained undefeated, fighting a heavy schedule to build up his rankings. What catapulted him to boxing immortality was being linked to Muhammad Ali, though through no effort of his own, actually.
In 1968, Ali was stripped of his title and license for his refusal to be drafted and serve in the Vietnam War. To fill the vacancy, the New York boxing commission staged a bout between Frazier and Buster Mathis, with the winner being hailed world champion.
Although it was not widely accepted as a world title fight, Frazier did beat Mathis for a stake in the world title sweepstakes. In February of 1970, Frazier became undisputed world champion by knocking out World Boxing Association champion Jimmy Ellis in the fifth round.
His knockout percentage was phenomenal. Defending the title, Frazier climbed to 27 wins without a loss.
Finally, Ali had gotten his license back, and quickly staked his own 31-0 record against Frazier in what was dubbed ?The Fight of the Century? in Madison Square Garden. Frank Sinatra posed as a photographer for Life magazine to get a ringside seat. Everything was in Frazier?s favor. He was at his peak, while Ali was coming off a three-year absence and a bruising comeback fight against Oscar Bonavena. Also, the media hype was incredible. Using his left hook to slow Ali down after a slow start, Frazier hammered out a clear unanimous decision. Both fighters spent time in the hospital. Much of the story so far sounds like the first Rocky movie.
In January of 1973, Frazier tasted defeat for the first time in 30 bouts, being dropped to the canvas six times in the first two rounds by 1968 Olympic heavyweight champion George Foreman. The referee stopped the bout which was held in Kingston, Jamaica.
In 1974, Frazier lost a 12-round decision in the rematch with Ali in New York, But since neither of them held the world title, the fight did not generate anywhere near the hype of their first fight. But when Ali earned the title back by beating Foreman in the ?Rumble in the Jungle? in October of 1974, he was at full steam, vocally and physically. The climactic third fight would be held in the Philippines, under the watchful eye of an eager President Ferdinand Marcos, with whom Ali actually had a side bet on the outcome of the fight.
?It?ll be a chilla, and a killa, and a thrilla, when I get the gorilla in Manila,? Ali exclaimed.
It was a brutal fight, with each aging champion virtually stepping back in time. Finally, Frazier?s trainer, Eddie Futch, mercifully stopped the fight before the 15th round. Ali said the fight was ?the closest thing to death?. It cemented their immortality in boxing history.
In 1976, Frazier was beaten by Foreman again, and retired. In 1981, he tried a comeback, earning a draw against little-known Jumbo Cummings, then retired for good, spending time on tour with his band The Knockouts. In later years, Frazier spoke venomously against Ali, even saying out loud he wanted to push a Parkinson?s-stricken Ali into the Olympic flame in Atlanta in 1996. Since then, they have calmed down, and alternately apologized and traded more barbs with each other.
But perhaps Pulitzer-Prize winning author David Halberstam described their relationship best.
?Technically the loser of two of the three fights, [Frazier] seems not to understand that they ennobled him as much as they did Ali, that the only way we know of Ali?s greatness is because of Frazier?s equivalent greatness, that in the end there was no real difference between the two of them as fighters, and when sports fans and historians think back, they will think of the fights as classics, with no identifiable winner or loser. These are men who, like it or not, have become prisoners of each other and those three nights.?
And, trapped in those glorious memories, Smokin? Joe Frazier wants to return to the scene of his greatest battle.
