'Smokin Joe' has passed RIP

I thought the above sad news deserved its own thread as opposed to the "Joe Frazier may be ill one".

Unfortunately Joe Frazier has lost his battle with liver cancer at the age of 67. His family thanked people for their prayers, love and support - but have requested time to grieve privately.

'Smokin Joe' will be sorely missed but will be fondly remembered as one of the greatest fighters to ever lace them up. He left us with one of the most iconic rivalries and trilogies in heavyweight history as well as arguably the greatest fight of all time. A class act in and out of the ring and a proper legend.

RIP champ.

real sad news.

RIP Smoking Joe

Terribly sad news, in an era where the heavyweight championship has been devalued to such a degree is easy to forget what it meant to hold it in Frazier's era. Champion when it meant something in the greatest era the sport has ever seen. Rest in Peace.

Frazier-Ali I is the first event, never mind boxing event, that I can recall with any clarity. I was nearly five and Frazier became a childhood hero at once. To a degree he still has that status in my mind, which is perhaps why the news of his passing seems so especially sad. A great, dignified and indefatigable champion with the sweetest left hook that boxing has ever seen. We shall all miss him terribly.

RIP Smokin Joe

RIP to a legend

Very sad, this one has hit me. Great champion in the golden era, and one of the best wins in boxing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctKAGKVpCUU

Rest in Peace to a true great

Absolute legend, a warrior & came across as a humble blue collar gent outside of the ring. RIP Joe

True great, not only as a heavyweight but of all time. RIP

I mentioned, on the other thread, that Joe's passing would be one of those which would genuinely strike at my heart. A fine fighter and a fine man, and in each role he personified courage and dignity.

In a world in which the word ' legend ' is used so often as to render it meaningless, Joe Frazier is one for whom the original term might have been coined.

When someone becomes as iconic as Frazier was you nearly expect them to go on forever and forget that they're not invincible..

Mayweather has tweeted offering to pay for the funeral. Not sure what Joe's financial situation was like but a nice gesture from Floyd.

Rest in peace Smokin' Joe. A great, great fighter, one of the finest heavyweights of all time, gave us possibly the greatest fight of all time and as the captain says, possessed the sweetest left hook you'll ever see.

I saw a good post from Max Kellerman on Twitter earlier. "100 years ago it was said of Stanley Ketchel, today of Joe Frazier; start counting 10 over him, he'll get up".

A warrior in ever sense of the word.

paperbag_puncher wrote:When someone becomes as iconic as Frazier was you nearly expect them to go on forever and forget that they're not invincible..

Mayweather has tweeted offering to pay for the funeral. Not sure what Joe's financial situation was like but a nice gesture from Floyd.

Was a very nice gesture. However, one does have to think he should maybe have kept it private, and as is so often the case with Floyd he may have publicly announced it for the attention he'll receive. That's beside the point though I guess, and he deserves respect for offering to pay for it whether there was an alterior motive or not.

In my book perhaps the best heavyweight of his time. A true gent and an idol. RIP Joe.

I was pretty annoyed that Daybreak (hardly a hub of sporting news but anyway) showed video of an old Frazier feebly attempting to hit the speed ball, and also a short clip of an old Frazier in some kind of exhibition bout...at least show the man as we will all remember him, in his prime and with bad intent inside the ring.

My mrs said "boxers were so slow back then, weren't they", not realising that it was a 50-something year old Frazier clearly in some kind of exhibition. I'd hate anyone to have that impression of him, given that at his best he was bobbing, weaveing and throwing some of the meanest hooks you'll ever see.

just so you know there is a documentary/film on frazier coming out very shortly made with him over something like 3 years its meant tn be very personal comes out very soon or has just been released cant remember.

RIP to a true Legend and a fine man.

RIP to an absolute warrior of a fighter.
Height be damned, a guy like Frazier would still clean up the division today.

An incredible boxer and gentleman of the sport, he shall be sorely missed... RIP smokin

I was pretty annoyed that Daybreak (hardly a hub of sporting news but anyway) showed video of an old Frazier feebly attempting to hit the speed ball, and also a short clip of an old Frazier in some kind of exhibition bout...at least show the man as we will all remember him, in his prime and with bad intent inside the ring.

BBC Breakfast hardly fared much better. Showed footage of him being bounced around by Foreman in their first fight. Now whilst this showed the remarkable courage of the man, it hardly showed Frazier as the great fighter he was. Also didn't help that the sports presenter clearly knew nothing about boxing and of Frazier beyond the fact that he had a three fight trilogy with Ali.

One of the great heavyweights and my thoughts go out to his family and friends. The golden heavyweight era of the '70's slips further away with his passing.

If there's one thing that pisses me off it's reporters/presenters that don't have a clue what they are talking about, they get paid megabucks too.

As Futch said, no one will ever forget what you did Joe.

My favourite fighter from the generation before my time - sad he is now gone. Just loved his style.

As an aside, there are a few things to look out for. Firstly, the documentary on Joe called "Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears" has been filmed over the last four years - recently shown in the philly film festival. (this may have been mentioned elsewhere here).

Secondly, there's been discussions for sometime regarding Joe Frazier being acknowledged more in his home town, with calls for a statue or something similar. There's a few facebook groups and videos on youtube covering this - so might be worth a look.

How terribly sad. RIP.

RIP Smokin Joe

Thanks for the memories. A true fighter.

"Life doesn't run away from nobody. Life runs at people." - Joe Frazier

Picture perfect left hook, and more heart than one man needed, the guy was the physical representation of courage. RIP champ.

Terrible news.

He was a gentleman!!!

RIP

A true giant of my era. Lit up the sport with his heart, courage and ability.
RIP

RIP to a real legend of Boxing.

One of my first sporting memories was watching joe get bounced around the ring by george foreman on world of sport. Not the best memory of him as a fighter (though the fact he kept getting up showed his heart), but i was just old enough to understand what a shock it was. A little piece of my history goes with him, which makes it all the more personal.

Great fighter, RIP Joe and thanks for the memories.

Scottrf wrote:As Futch said, no one will ever forget what you did Joe.

It's not often I agree with Scott but I think that sums it up beautifully

Cheers Scotty

Rest in peace Joe

As I said the other day, I can't think of many other fighters who command my respect the way Smokin' Joe Frazier does, and always will. He's such a key figure in boxing, and it's awfully sad to see a link to the golden era of Heavyweight boxing severed. Olympic gold medal winner, Heavyweight champion of the world and the first man to topple Ali - Frazier was always a winner.

May he rest in peace.

It does indeed, Alma.

This article from the Guardian on Frazier is worth a read.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/nov/08/joe-frazier-kevin-mitchell

Sad news indeed, a true great the likes of which I fear we will never see again.

(Says a lot for the BBC that they kept showng a clip of Joe knocking out Jimmy Ellis every time they mentioned the fact that he beat Ali)

RIP Joe.

I did notice that, Union. I wouldn't doubt that the person at the BBC who put that footage together reckons that Ellis is Ali.

So true, superfly. Apparently, Jeff Powell of the Daily Mail thinks that Ali's jaw was broken by Frazier in their first fight, rather than Ken Norton two years later, while Gareth Davies at the Telegraph reckons that Frazier floored Ali in the 11th of their first fight and was outpointed in their second after a 15-round contest. Either these people know nothing about boxing at all, or they have the worst sub-editors in the world. The Mitchell piece in the Guardian is a breath of comparatively accurate fresh air.

Pretty annoying that well-paid and supposedly professional sports writers can get such simple things wrong when there is a glut of boxing-mad youngsters beneath them who'd jump at the chance to do the same job for a fraction of the pay.

It's unfortunately par for the course now, can't remember where it was but was either one of the broadsheets or the BBC but they described Hatton as being the former undisputed welter weight champion when he retired. If they can't get details from four or five years ago right have little chance with stuff from 40 years ago.

Jeff Powell passes himself off as a boxing expert, captain.

Even allowing for his memory playing tricks, a sub-editor (as you suggest) should be able to quickly correct something that anyone with more than a passing interest in Ali could probably de-bunk.

The mistake in the telegraph has been repeated elsewhere today. It's hard not to despair at the laziness of modern journalism.

88Chris05 wrote:Pretty annoying that well-paid and supposedly professional sports writers can get such simple things wrong when there is a glut of boxing-mad youngsters beneath them who'd jump at the chance to do the same job for a fraction of the pay.

Exactly Chris, it's shocking, it's worrying to think about all the other stuff they must get wrong that you read.

RIP Smokin Joe

Let's be 100% honest, most of these "Sports Writers" know about football and a bit of Rugby they know nothing about Boxing really just about as much as a casual fan, which is just plain sad. Usually the guys whyo are dedicated Boxing writers know what they are talking about the ones that go under "Sports Writer" know nothing basically...

Sad but true.

Also well done to FLoyd possibly could ahve kept it quiet but who cares, nice thing to do from Floyd, think he did this to another boxer as well, see, he ain't all bad!!

Frazier is one of the very reasons why I love boxing. RIP Smokin' Joe

sad news true boxing legend

You were right to start a fresh article for the passing of Smokin Joe, given the uncertainty of the one I wrote. I wasn't sure what to put at the time as it's a delicate subject and there was uncertainty at the time. this sums it up well though.

Few fighters could create such a ripple through the boxing world as Frazier has. I remembe the first things to get me into boxing were watching the old fights, with Ali being my favourite. I didn't like Frazier at first becuse he made my idol look human, but as I learned more about the sport I came to really love watching Frazier, his heart was undeniable. He's easily one of the greatest and bravest heavyweights ever to lace up a pair.

Rest In Peace Smokin Joe Frazier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLWYnTFz9PE

Sad news , true legend