By David Martinez / Boxing Historian
This past week boxing lost a great champion, Joe Frazier, who passed away after a brief battle with liver cancer at the age of 67.
I will always remember Joe, and I am so blessed to have lived in his boxing era and to have witnessed his fights. He was a relentless fighter and fought every round going forward behind a vicious left hook, with his opponents having to withstand constant pressure from Smokin’ Joe.
If there were six fights, in my opinion, that absolutely stood out in his career they would have to be:
September 21, 1966 / vs. Oscar Bonavena … Frazier down twice in second round to rally and win a hard fought 10 round decision.
July 19, 1967 / vs. George Chuvalo … Frazier stops the rugged Canadian in 4 rounds, in the first ever stoppage of Chuvalo’s 62 bouts up to that point in his career.
March 4, 1968 / vs. Buster Mathis … Frazier stops the unbeaten Mathis in 11 rounds, reversing his loss when they fought as amateurs.
June 23, 1969 / vs. Jerry Quarry … Frazier stops a determined Quarry in 7 rounds, non-stop action throughout and voted 1969 Fight of the Year.
March 8, 1971/ vs. Ali … Frazier gives Ali his first professional loss and knocks down The Greatest in round 15 in the Fight of the Century.
October 1, 1975 / vs. Ali … fight is stopped after 14 brutal rounds, in an epic fight called The Thrilla in Manila and voted as 1975 Fight of the Year.
In closing, I must mention that Frazier vs. Ali, their first fight, March 8, 1971 was simply one of the best heavyweight fights I have ever been involved with in my fifty years of boxing. It ranks as arguably the most eagerly anticipated championship fight ever. Both fighters entered the ring unbeaten with both having legitimate claims to the heavyweight title. That fight lived up to all it’s hype, with Frazier punctuating his victory by landing a tremendous left hook that dropped Ali in the final round in a unanimous 15 round decision that memorable night in New York.
The boxing legacy of Joe Frazier will remain with me forever. In his amazing ring career he was 32-4-1 (27 by KO) with his four losses only by the hands of two men, Ali (twice) and George Foreman (twice) … may his soul rest in peace with the Lord!