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Quick Facts
- NAME: Joe Frazier
- OCCUPATION: Boxer
- BIRTH DATE: January 12, 1944
- DEATH DATE: November 07, 2011
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Beaufort, South Carolina
- PLACE OF DEATH: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Full Name: Billy Joe Frazier
- Nickname: Smokin' Joe
Best Known For
Joe Frazier was the world heavyweight boxing champion from February 1970 until January 1973 and fought in the famous "Thrilla in Manila" in 1975.
Videos see all videos
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The Rocky Saga: Going the Distance - Earnie Shavers & Joe Frazier (BioChannel Special) (2:41)
The Rocky Saga: Going the Distance - Earnie Shavers & Joe Frazier
Frank Stallone recalls when Sly Stallone got into the ring with boxer legends Earnie Shavers and Joe Frazier.
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Play NowJoe Frazier. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 09:59, Jun 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/joe-frazier-9301620.
Joe Frazier. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/joe-frazier-9301620 [Accessed 19 Jun 2013].
"Joe Frazier." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jun 19 2013, 09:59 http://www.biography.com/people/joe-frazier-9301620.
"Joe Frazier," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/joe-frazier-9301620 [accessed Jun 19, 2013].
"Joe Frazier," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/joe-frazier-9301620 (accessed Jun 19, 2013).
Joe Frazier [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 Jun 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/joe-frazier-9301620.
Joe Frazier, http://www.biography.com/people/joe-frazier-9301620 (last visited Jun 19, 2013).
Joe Frazier. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/joe-frazier-9301620. Accessed Jun 19, 2013.
Synopsis
Born January 12, 1944, in Beaufort, South Carolina, Joe Frazier was the world heavyweight-boxing champion from February 16, 1970, until January 22, 1973, when boxing great George Foreman beat him. Frazier is perhaps best remembered for his grueling 14-round match against Muhammad Ali in the Philippines, known as the Thrilla in Manila, which Ali won by TKO. Frazier died of liver cancer in 2011.
Early Years
Boxer. The youngest of 11 children, Billy Joe Frazier was born January 12, 1944, in Beaufort, South Carolina. His parents, Rubin and Dolly Frazier, were sharecroppers, so the family never had much money.
By the age of 15, Frazier, who'd quit school two years before, was on his own. He moved to New York City to live with an older brother and find work. Employment, however, was hard to come by, and to put cash in his pocket he started stealing cars and selling them to a junkyard in Brooklyn.
But Frazier harbored dreams of doing something with his life. Many of those dreams were built around boxing. As a younger kid, back in South Carolina, he had dreamed of becoming the next Joe Louis, airing out punches at burlap bags he'd filled with leaves and moss.
Up north Frazier's love for boxing didn't subside. After moving to Philadelphia, Frazier found work at a slaughterhouse, where he routinely punched sides of beef stored in a refrigerated room. That scene later inspired Sylvester Stallone for his 1976 film, “Rocky.”
It wasn't until 1961, though, that Frazier entered the ring and actually began to box. He was rough and undisciplined, but his unpolished talent caught the eye of trainer Yank Durham.
A Champion's Rise
Under the direction of Durham, who shortened Frazier's punches and added power to his devastating left hook, the young boxer quickly found success. For three straight years he was the Middle Atlantic Golden Gloves Champion, and he captured the gold medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
He turned pro in 1965 and in just under a year had compiled an 11-0 record. In March 1968 he was crowned heavyweight champion, a result that stemmed in part from Muhammad Ali getting stripped of his heavyweight title the year before, after refusing to be drafted.
In 1970 Ali successfully sued to get his boxing license back, setting the stage for the sport's highly anticipated matchup between Frazier and Ali.
Ali vs. Frazier
While the two fighters have may have respected each other, the two men were clearly not friends. Frazier steamed at the vocal Ali, who repeatedly called him a "gorilla" and an "Uncle Tom." Years later Frazier's anger still hadn't cooled: After seeing Ali, battling Parkinson's disease, light the flame at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Frazier told reporters he would have liked to have "pushed him in."
Their first battle, dubbed the Fight of the Century, took place at New York's Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971. Despite being lighter and shorter than Ali, Frazier, in front of a packed house that included Frank Sinatra and Hubert Humphrey, wore Ali down.
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The Ed Sullivan Show Guests
View groupOriginally called Toast of the Town, The Ed Sullivan Show ran from 1948-1971 on CBS and was an American staple in the 50s and 60s. The American variety show featured the Who's Who of celebritydom over the decades, including Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Tony Bennett, Carol Channing, Lucille Ball, The Jackson 5, and The Doors.
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- In this group:
- Muhammad Ali
- Joe Frazier
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier 2 people in this group
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Olympic Boxers
View groupBoxing was first introduced as an Olympic event at the 1904 Summer Olympics. Since then, the Games have introduced us to future boxing legends. In 1960, boxer Muhammad Ali won a spot on the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team, returning home that year with a gold medal. At the 1976 Olympics, Sugar Ray Leonard won the gold medal in light-waterweight boxing, with the heavyweight title awarded to Leon Spinks. These men join the group of fighters, from George Foreman to Floyd Mayweather, who have made history in their run for Olympic Gold. Biography looks at some of the hardest hitters in Olympic boxing history.
Olympic Boxers 10 people in this group
