Joe Frazier, Former Heavyweight Boxing Champ, Dies at 67
Joe Frazier, the former heavyweight boxing champ who died of liver cancer on Nov. 7 at 67, won't go down in history as the greatest fighter of all time. Muhammad Ali, the man with whom Frazier sparred so epically, both inside and outside the ropes, owns that distinction. Frazier's role in his rival's outsize life will always define his own legacy: it's impossible to mention "Smokin' Joe" without summoning Ali a few seconds later.
But if Ali defined Frazier, well, Frazier made Ali too. If not for Frazier's greatness ? his left hook crumbled opponents, and he defended his heavyweight title four times from 1970 to '73 ? Ali could never have been called the Greatest. And though the annals of boxing won't remember him as the better fighter, at times Frazier could be the bigger man.
(See photos of Frazier's life.)
Ali feared Frazier, and that insecurity brought out the worst in him. During the height of their rivalry in the racially charged post-civil-rights 1970s, Ali belittled Frazier whenever he could. He'd call Frazier an "Uncle Tom," "ignorant," "the Gorilla." In black communities, Ali characterized Frazier as the white man's champ. "I'm not just fightin' one man," Ali bellowed before their first bout, in 1971, the "Fight of the Century" at New York City's Madison Square Garden. "I'm fightin' a lot of men, showin' a lot of 'em here is one man they couldn't conquer. My mission is to bring freedom to 30 million black people. I'll win this fight because I've got a cause. Frazier has no cause. He's in it for the money alone." (Frazier won the bout in a 15-round decision.)
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