Former Heavyweight Champion of the World, Smokin' Joe Frazier, has died...

[POJO_Risin]

According to ESPN, Joe Frazier, only 67 years old, has liver cancer, only diagnosed a little over a month ago. Today, he's in hospice care, and will die shortly.

Wow...

Just wow...nothing good about that at all...

[Romeo Delight]

That's really sad.

I miss boxing, for all its flaws.

I have tried to watch MMA but there is something about it that makes me think it isn't quite a sport.

I know I am in the minority, but I won't ever be a big fan of grown men grappling dressed in a glorified speedo, blood spurting all over the mat from a head butt or elbow to the head.

[binnie]

Sad news indeed.

I hope Joe's pain eases soon, for better or for worse.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

If you haven't already, watch the HBO special on the trilogy of fights vs. Ali....

So much respect for him for putting up with all those "Uncle Tom" comments Ali made back then, never said a word....

[sadaist]

That's really sad.

I miss boxing, for all its flaws.

I have tried to watch MMA but there is something about it that makes me think it isn't quite a sport.

I know I am in the minority, but I won't ever be a big fan of grown men grappling dressed in a glorified speedo, blood spurting all over the mat from a head butt or elbow to the head.


No, you are not in the minority. The fans of MMA to me seem like wrestling fans who now can say the sport they watch is real. I can't watch any of it or get behind any fighter. For fucks sake they have "the match of the decade" every other weekend it seems.

I miss the sweet science. I haven't watched since Holyfield started losing (the last CHAMP I really got behind). Then the belts went all over the place & it became a god awful mess. I miss having 'The Champ'. A guy we can follow & pull for and respect.

For some reason I have a bad feeling some crap fish wrap newsrag if Joe dies will have the headline "Down Goes Frazier!". Just sad news indeed. I heard he was just signing autographs at a show in September. This shit hit him fast & hard. But that's kinda the story of his life. Much respect for the man and his talent. Thoughts to him, his family, friends, and fans.

Come on Joe...you can beat this. We'll give you a standing 8 count and we'll count a bit slower than usual. You've earned it man.

[SunisinuS]

Say it ain't so Joe.

[TFM_Dale]

That just sucks, a true legend of the ring and sports period. I'm pulling for you Joe.

[POJO_Risin]

That's really what it is Dale...larger than life athletes that actually put on classics...

Not the quotation mark classics that ESPN hypes (Tim Tebow anyone???)

They were athletes that fought because it was the only way they could pay the bills...and Frazier was THE blue-collar fighter of the era...a man's man...

ironic when you think about it....

Ali has had Parkinson's for years...and will outlive Frazier...

mirrors their fights in a way...with Frazier winning fight one...but losing the final two bouts...

Without Ali...Frazier dominates the heavys for years...he wins the WBA and WBC titles in 1970 against Jimmy Ellis...before getting destroyed by George Foreman in 1973...after four defenses, including Ali's first loss...hell...WITH Ali, he dominated...

but lost four of his last seven fights...to Foreman and Ali...both twice...imagine that...only losing to two fighters...twice.

[redblkwht]

Agreed poj, but Id rather be joe maybe going soon, but still can communicate..
yolanda used to bring Ali in the store a few times by boss would help them at times
shes a 10.5d mens, Ali was a solid 12. he would sit there and flip magazing pages
and tear them out like a toddler..its just awful. It was cool & all to be around his
presence, but to not take the meds like michael j fox is crazy..IMO
but this is smokin's thread he was the mike tyson of that era, and didnt duck anyone.
great fighter, in the ALI movie with will smith, in real life he really was a class act.

[Hardrock69]

Man....this is fucking sad. I mean, we all gotta go sometime, but Joe was a fucking badass. A GREAT at what he did.

No fun. :(

[DlocRoth]

One of the greats, no doubt.

[twonabomber]

I have tried to watch MMA but there is something about it that makes me think it isn't quite a sport.

I know I am in the minority, but I won't ever be a big fan of grown men grappling dressed in a glorified speedo, blood spurting all over the mat from a head butt or elbow to the head.

add me to the minority. i don't watch MMA, don't like it.

we used to go watch the big fights on Monday nights on closed circuit (you young fuckers go look that up :D) at a local bar...then, when they were all on Saturdays, get all the big PPV fights at someone's house...and now, we can't be bothered.

[POJO_Risin]

add me to the minority. i don't watch MMA, don't like it.

we used to go watch the big fights on Monday nights on closed circuit (you young fuckers go look that up :D) at a local bar...then, when they were all on Saturdays, get all the big PPV fights at someone's house...and now, we can't be bothered.

I don't think the people that don't watch the MMA are the minority...they are the majority...

but now ESPN promotes those fights as though everyone gives a shit...

I don't watch MMA either...I've NEVER watched a complete fight...gotten a pay per view...or paid much attention to it...

...but I do watch bully beat down...

[TFM_Dale]

I love me some MMA but I miss boxing actually mattering. It is to bad they can't set up boxing to have one champion per weight class with mandatory defenses against top contenders and don't get me started about bull shit stoppages and decisions that even a blind man knows are bullshit. Until they fix those things many people will continue to just not care about boxing anymore. It is a shame to, some of the biggest legends in sports were boxers.

[Green Manalishi]

Sad news for certain . Ali himself admitted more than once that Smokin' Joe was the toughest man

that he ever fought . He said that no one has ever hit him harder . The matches that they fought ,

especially the first one IMO , were just epic . When Ali , Frazier , Foreman , or Norton fought

eachother , they were not just another boxing match , they were events . So much so that they

were some of the first Pay Per View sporting events that technology allowed .

Go in peace , Joe .

[POJO_Risin]

There's been a couple of early reports that are saying Smokin' Joe Frazer, one of the true great heavyweights of all time, has passed away...

What a great fighter...

A big time hitter...and someone who wasn't afraid to take a hit...

Here's an Ali-Frazier interview...long after...

[POJO_Risin]

Well...the report I read has been pulled...

[TFM_Dale]

If it is true, rest in peace Joe, you will never be forgotten.

[lesfunk]

I remember seeing an interview with Frazier where he said (paraphrasing) "You see how Muhammed Ali is Now? I did that."

[POJO_Risin]

Now, his business manager is saying that he's going to send Frazier to Russia for some sort of miracle treatment...chripes...

here we go...

[Seshmeister]

The quacks that hover around taking the money of desperate dying people are the absolute scum of the earth.

[Kristy]

No, you are not in the minority. The fans of MMA to me seem like wrestling fans who now can say the sport they watch is real. I can't watch any of it or get behind any fighter. For fucks sake they have "the match of the decade" every other weekend it seems.

MMA is another way of selling mindless violence to America's ever increasing dumbed-down white trash. Two "Kung Fu Masters" in speedos and tattoos humping each other like you're watching some really bad directed gay porn. MMA is about thugs who can't get jobs as cops or even mall security so they resort to this pussy-ish kick and punch style of fighting which as no realistic bearing on martial arts. Now boxing....that was man's sport. Boxing is all about focus, discipline, and how to dance without getting your head knocked off. Boxing takes strength and stamina where MMA two creeps fall to the floor and profess their love for each other.

[TFM_Dale]

MMA is another way of selling mindless violence to America's ever increasing dumbed-down white trash. Two "Kung Fu Masters" in speedos and tattoos humping each other like you're watching some really bad directed gay porn. MMA is about thugs who can't get jobs as cops or even mall security so they resort to this pussy-ish kick and punch style of fighting which as no realistic bearing on martial arts. Now boxing....that was man's sport. Boxing is all about focus, discipline, and how to dance without getting your head knocked off. Boxing takes strength and stamina where MMA two creeps fall to the floor and profess their love for each other.

Lady, I have a college degree and work a full time job, I doubt anyone would consider me white trash and I watch MMA often. Funny thing is it is usually ignorant people that use generalizations to run down things they do not like themselves or just do not understand. You don't have to like or be a fan of anything you don't want to but dont judge me because I like something you do not approve of.

[Kristy]

It's not that I approve of MMA - that has nothing to do with it. It's not fighting, it theatrics for white trash. I myself studied martial arts for 11 years and have never seen such insulting displays of it being used. MMA is thuggery fighting, nothing more.

[clarathecarrot]

Simma, down Nah,.. Kristy. I will be there in the morning to soothe your wants, needs and desires.

Simma Down Nah!

I am sure your 105 pound ninja frame is all about brutal displays of aggression. I however, beg to differ.

I realize you have never addressed my posts personally I don't expect it now but Simmah Down Nah...

[clarathecarrot]

Joe was the best fight Ali had in my op.

I am not going to goggle wikki and post a bunch of bullsh!t..text fact, that makes you all think I am as everyone else in the world a expert on everything boxing all of the sudden.

I will say this before pay per view and after the invention of television boxing matches used to be broadcast like a tv show, free and live.

Frazier, Ali, Holmes, Cooney, and the other kings of the ring really layed down some fine exibitions of boxing, live in the 1970's and 60's .

If Frazier is checking out .... Rest in Peace I am a fan.

[jhale667]

I'm not a fan of MMA either...agree too much rolling around on the floor looking like they're dry-humping in speedos and not enough actual fighting.


Wishing Smokin' Joe the best, though... :(

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I used to love boxing.... Sugar Ray Leonard was my favorite....

Leonard/Duran, Leonard/Hagler, Leonard/Hearns, all great fights....

But the older I get, the less that I get any enjoyment at all out of watching two guys beat the shit out of each other....

And as for MMA, that's unwatchable to me.... Not into it at all....

[lesfunk]

In my opinion, any sport where you can kick the shit out of a guy when he's down isn't really a sport.
I mean seriously. A guy gives his opponent a liver punch and while the poor bastard is rolling around on the mat gasping for air... The real ass kicking begins.
Pathetic

[clarathecarrot]

I watch MMA very rarely, flipping channels 2 min here or there, it has no interest to me ...here how it go..the people who watch that have never done that to anyone or had that done to themselves, or they are in that sport.

Once a guy is down you do not continue to brutalize him or you go to jail, in reality .

I am worried that people may think that a argument over some drunken bullshit may be percieved as, when he is down and the fight is over kicking him while he is down him is what people do .

Rarely do people have enough left in themselves after a real fight to signal a tap out, and if you notice the refferee has to let the winner know the looser is asking for mercy. This in myop is due to the trigered conflicts of fight or flight inherant is all humans if the reff wasn't there people would die .


Not at all like reality.

Boxing is a great athletic endeavor full of real skills,. MMA is also so are all disciplines of self defense.

Reality is much more devestating and is not represented in either sport.

[jhale667]

I used to love boxing.... Sugar Ray Leonard was my favorite....

Leonard/Duran, Leonard/Hagler, Leonard/Hearns, all great fights....

But the older I get, the less that I get any enjoyment at all out of watching two guys beat the shit out of each other....

And as for MMA, that's unwatchable to me.... Not into it at all....

That was mine and my dad's Friday night ritual when fights were on ABC IIRC...mom would let me stay up, and we'd watch whatever was the big fight of the week...saw a bunch of great Ali fights with him. I grew up loving the sport, and kept on following Sugar Ray Leonard and Mike Tyson's careers after my dad died. But agree it's lost it's luster the past few years overall. I have a couple of friends who actually compete as (currently) amateur MMA fighters so I've tried to watch it a few times, but just can't get into it. Funny thing is of course they think MMA is superior to boxing (especially lately), but we agree to disagree...

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Smokin' Joe passed away tonight....

http://deadspin.com/5857316/

[POJO_Risin]

RIP Champ...

Many consider Ali to be the greatest fighter of all-time, and you were the first to beat him...

...you never got your due, but were certainly a part of the GREATEST era of heavyweights of all time...

[redblkwht]

WOW floored he went so quickly..RIP Joe

[POJO_Risin]

WOW floored he went so quickly..RIP Joe

To think...mid-September...Frazier's living his live like normal...

two months later...

[POJO_Risin]

My first memory of Joe Frazier was from 1974...I was in the hospital with pnemeunia in 1975 during all the hubub from the Thrilla in Manilla...and the weekend before...or after the fight more likely...watching an interview with both men...

hmmm...

makes me think of the interview after the second fight...hang on...

[POJO_Risin]

Honestly...if you haven't seen this...you need to...

Ali and Frazier spend a good bit of time before, during and after their fights promoting their next fights by doing shit like this. Nobody ever knew if they were serious. While Frazier claims that a lot of what Ali said wasn't scripted, you have to think that some of it was...

Anyways...they don't make them like either one of these guys anymore...

[redblkwht]

To think...mid-September...Frazier's living his live like normal...

two months later...
I hear ya, going quickly isnt all that bad though..

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Smokin' Joe decks Ali with the left hook....

[POJO_Risin]

...and fucking Cosell never stopped...just sitting there....feet away...

and ali taunting Fraizier the whole time...

[POJO_Risin]

Hilarious....gotta watch this one...memories...

[POJO_Risin]

Here's Ali/Frazier...without fighting...I think...

[POJO_Risin]

"He's 32 and I'm 30...but I'm about 6 years younger because I haven't been hit in the head as much as he has..."

Ali about Frazier...

[sadaist]

/Salute


Thanks Joe.

[neuralfraud]

Well it sure didn't take FARK very long to come up with exactly the same asinine headline that was previously predicted in this thread...

Original article: abc news (http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/sports&id=8422638)

[Seshmeister]

Hilarious....gotta watch this one...memories...



LOL!

That immediately reminded me of the scene from Sleeper where he wakes up in the future and is quizzed on 'historical artefacts', check the last 30 seconds... :D

[Seshmeister]

Muhammad Ali has led tributes from around the world for former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier, who has died aged 67 from liver cancer.


"The world has lost a great champion," said 69-year-old Ali, who fought Frazier three times.

"I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration. My sympathy goes out to his family and loved ones."

Former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis said of Frazier: "He was one of boxing's greats. He was legendary."

The Briton added: "He has made his mark in boxing, everyone knows his history.

"Without him, other boxing heroes wouldn't be great either because they really tested his talent against him.


"In a room filled of great men, he is definitely one of them."

Frazier, who won Olympic gold in 1964, became world champion in 1970 after Ali had been stripped of his titles in 1967 for refusing to fight in the Vietnam War.

When Ali tried to reclaim his belts, Frazier beat him, winning their much-hyped clash in 1971.

It was Ali's first loss as a professional, but a defeat he avenged.

Frazier and Ali met a further two times in the ring, Ali winning both contests, including the epic "Thrilla in Manila" in 1975.

The American also fought compatriot George Foreman, another of boxing's heavyweight greats. They met twice, Foreman winning on both occasions.


JOE FRAZIER PROFILE

Born 12 January 1944, Beaufort, South Carolina
Total fights 37 - 32 wins (27KOs), 4 losses, 1 draw
Won gold for USA at 1964 Tokyo Olympics
Won NYSAC version of world title with victory over Buster Mathis in 1968
Won WBA and WBC versions of world title with victory over Jimmy Ellis in 1970
Last world title fight in 1975 against Muhammad Ali
Retired in 1976 and made a comeback in 1981, fighting just once, before retiring for good
Dies 7 November 2011 after suffering from liver cancer


"Good night Joe Frazier," Foreman wrote on Twitter. "I love you dear friend."

Other boxing names, past and present, were also quick to pay their respects.

Joe Bugner, who lost to Frazier five months after being beaten by Ali in 1973, told BBC Radio 5 live: "Joe Frazier was relentless. Here was a man about 5ft 10in, he weighed about a stone lighter than myself, but he was so courageous and ferocious. You literally had to hit him with a sledgehammer to put him away.

"In 1973, I was 23 years old. I became a man after that fight because I realised you can't go through a career like boxing without seeing and feeling the power of the greats.

"I happened to have the privilege of fighting Frazier and Ali, and a few others, but those two to me were the greatest.

"Joe took everything away I thought I had and made me realise I needed more. If I was going to succeed I needed a lot more.

"It hit me like a lightning bolt when I heard he died."

Former world champion Chris Eubank added: "In boxing, you look for an intense rivalry with men who are of the highest calibre in their abilities to fight.

"Muhammad Ali could not have been the mammoth character, fighter and man he became without Joe Frazier. He just couldn't have.

"You need someone to bounce off. You need another great. The operative word is great and indeed he [Frazier] was."

WBC champion Vitali Klitschko said: "He was a huge fighter, huge champion and a huge personality.

"I didn't have a chance to see his fights live because I was born in 1971. In the Soviet Union, professional boxing was forbidden but we studied about this fighter and after that we had a chance to see the fights. It was a great lesson for all new generations.


"I didn't have a chance to meet him personally, but I heard about him and that's why he is always in the memory of the next generation of great fighters.

"From me and my brother [fellow world champion] Wladimir, I want to say sorry that he has died. He was one of the great champions."

Eight-time world champion Manny Pacquiao said: "Boxing lost a great champion and the sport lost a great ambassador."

And five-time divisional world champion Floyd Mayweather added: "RIP Smokin Joe. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Frazier family. We lost an all-time great tonight."

Promoter Frank Warren believes Frazier's fights with Ali and Foreman mean the American will be remembered as one of the sport's finest.

"He was part of that era when we had the best heavyweights there had ever been," said Warren.

"People talk about Mike Tyson at the age of 21 - Joe Frazier, when he was a young fella, was every bit [as good as], if not better than, Tyson."

Truth is, however much Frazier might have protested, Muhammad Ali illuminated Frazier's own greatness while also managing to be the bane of his life

WBC light-heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins, a fellow Philadelphia fighter, said Frazier was an icon in the city and that he should have his own statue.

"There's no way in the world you should come to Philadelphia and not recognise who Joe Frazier is," he commented.

"It's the perfect time to build the biggest statue in appreciation for all the heart and love he gave to Philadelphia. We didn't realise we had a super-special person among us that we all, in a way, took for granted. I said this when he was living, I say this now."

[Matt White]

Man.....Joe HATED Ali....that "Uncle Tom" & "Gorilla" stuff was too much

A great fighter.......

RIP JOE

[Hardrock69]

R.I.P. Joe!!! :-(

[VHscraps]

I used to be a big fight fan before it all went to pay TV.

If anybody likes writing about boxing you should track down a brilliant book - This Bloody Mary is The Last Thing I Own (http://www.amazon.com/This-Bloody-Mary-Last-Thing/dp/088001685X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320772162&sr=1-1) (click on title for link) by Jonathan Rendall - it's about the UK fight scene, and the writer was a one-time amateur and then sometime manager of a featherweight title contender

I have boxes full of junk, and I knew I had printed out a pic of DLR and Smokin Joe from the Army - years ago. Tried finding it online, but ended up scanning it.

So, not photoshopped!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6222/6326452452_a895b444dc_b.jpg

[TFM_Dale]

RIP Joe, damn.

[POJO_Risin]

Awesome PIC....shit....I don't remember that one....

Holy hell...