Description
Smokin’ Joe Frazier was born on January 12th 1944 and died on November 7th 2011.
He had great wins over Oscar Bonavena, George Chuvalo, Tony Doyle, Buster Mathis and Jerry Quarry. On February 16th 1970, Joe Frazier forced Jimmy Ellis to retire in the 4th round and unified the World Heavyweight Championship. He knocked out Bob Foster in the 2nd round.
On March the 8th 1970 he fought Muhammad Ali. Both fighters were undefeated and the whole world were sitting on the edge of their seats as they watched these two great fighters have their showdown in what’s known as “The Fight of the Century”. This battle truly lived up to all the pre-fight hype with the none stop action from start to finish. Frazier knocked Ali down in the 15th round and won a points decision.
Joe Frazier faced his first defeat and lost his world title on January 22nd 1973 against the powerful unbeaten George Foreman by a 2nd round TKO. On the 2nd July 1973 Frazier won a points decision over Joe Bugner. On January 28th 1974, Frazier lost a points decision in a re-match against Muhammad Ali in what is known as “Super Fight II”. Frazier had two TKO wins over Jerry Quarry and Jimmy Ellis before he faced Muhammad Ali for the third time. This fight is known as ‘The Thrilla in Manila” and has gone down in history as the most brutal gloved Championship fight of all time. Both warriors gave it their all, and nearly killed each other in the process. Muhammad Ali won this war when Eddie Futch wouldn’t allow Joe Frazier to go out for the 15th and final round.
June 15th 1976, Frazier had a rematch with George Foreman, Foreman won by a TKO in the 5th round. Frazier fought and drew with Floyd Cummings on December 3rd 1981, this was Smokin’ Joe Frazier’s last fight. Smokin’ Joe Frazier has gone down in history as one of the greatest fighters of all time.
