Joseph William "Joe" Frazier (January 12, 1944 – November 7, 2011), also known as Smokin' Joe, was an Olympic and Undisputed World Heavyweightboxing champion, whose professional career lasted from 1965 to 1976, with a one-fight comeback in 1981.

Frazier emerged as the top contender in the late 1960s, defeating opponents that included Jerry Quarry, Oscar Bonavena, Buster Mathis, Eddie Machen, Doug Jones, George Chuvalo and Jimmy Ellis en route to becoming undisputed heavyweight champion in 1970, and followed up by defeating Muhammad Ali on points in the highly-anticipated "Fight of the Century" in 1971. Two years later Frazier lost his title when he was knocked out by George Foreman. He fought on, beating Joe Bugner, losing a rematch to Ali, and beating Quarry and Ellis again.

Frazier's last world title challenge came in 1975, but he was beaten by Ali in their brutal rubbermatch. He retired in 1976 following a second loss to Foreman. He made a comeback in 1981, fighting just once, before retiring for good. The International Boxing Research Organization (IBRO) rates Frazier among the ten greatest heavyweights of all time.[2] He is an inductee of both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame.

Frazier's style was often compared to that of Henry Armstrong and occasionally Rocky Marciano. He was dependent on bobbing, weaving, grunting, snorting as he grimaced with all out aggression wearing down his opponents with relentless pressure. His best known punch was a powerful left hook, which accounted for most of his knockouts.

After retiring, Frazier made cameo appearances in several Hollywood movies, and two episodes of The Simpsons. His son Marvis became a boxer — trained by Frazier himself — although was unable to emulate his father's success. Frazier continued to train fighters in his gym in Philadelphia. His later years saw the continuation of his bitter rivalry with Ali, in which the two periodically exchanged insults, interspersed with brief reconciliations.

Frazier was diagnosed with liver cancer in late September 2011 and admitted to hospice care. He died November 7, 2011.

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RIP Smokin’ Joe: Joe Frazier Passes from Cancer

Published: Nov 07 2011 by: Jake Emen

Boxing Legend Joe Frazier Dies

The sad news came in this evening that Joe Frazier has died from cancer. At 67 years of age, Frazier gave into the fatal liver cancer he had been battling, the final fight of his life.

It was just yesterday that news of his liver cancer became widely circulated, and it was only last month when Frazier himself was diagnosed, and he had been in hospice care as of late.

The boxing icon was a heavyweight champion with one of the best left hooks in the history of the sport, and an unshakable will. He was, of course, half of the most iconic boxing trilogy of all-time in his brutal three fight series against Muhammad Ali, of which he won the first epic Fight of the Century encounter.

It was the third fight against Ali that nearly killed both men, literally, in the ring. But this was a battle he couldn't win.

Smokin' Joe Frazier gave boxing fans some fantastic memories over his legendary career, and he will be sorely missed as a member of the boxing community.

He won an Olympic gold medal at the 1964 games, and quickly rose to prominence as an undefeated heavyweight star in the making. With Ali's forced absence from the sport, he won the vacant WBC heavyweight title over Jimmy Ellis. He had previously held the NYSAC title, and defended it with wins over the likes of an undefeated Buster Mathis and Jerry Quarry, in a fight which was the 1969 fight of the year.

The Fight Of The Century came in 1971, and Frazier took home a 15-round Unanimous Decision over Ali, punctuating the effort with a knockdown in the final stanza.

In 1973, Frazier lost his title to George Foreman as Howard Cosell famously shouted "Down Goes Frazier!" Foreman needed to knock him down six times in 2 rounds before the fight concluded, a nod to his heart and grit.

The second Ali fight came in 1974, and Frazier lost a decision there, before putting together two more wins over former rivals in Quarry and Ellis. Then came the Thrilla in Manila in 1975, the most brutal and violent of the three encounters between Frazier and Ali. It all but ruined both men physically.

Frazier lost that contest, and then fought just twice more, getting stopped by Foreman once again before taking five years off and coming back with one final appearance, a draw, in 1981.

He's of course well known for the thrills he provided in those fights against Ali, but he's also well known for the bitterness that he was compelled to carry for much of the remainder of his life as a result of the insults and torment that Ali publicly put him through.

It was in some ways fitting that most of the sports fans in the country found out about Joe Frazier's death during the Monday Night Football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Chicago Bears, played in Philly.

News that Joe Frazier died will resonate in the boxing world for quite some time. Rest in Peace, Smokin' Joe, and condolences to his family and friends.

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(Reuters) - Joe Frazier, the relentless slugger who became the heavyweight champion of the world and earned boxing immortality with three epic battles against Muhammad Ali, died on Monday at age 67, his personal manager said.

"Smokin' Joe" Frazier, who was the first boxer to beat Ali, died in Philadelphia a month after being diagnosed with liver cancer. Leslie Wolff, Frazier's personal manager, confirmed his death.

Frazier won the Olympic heavyweight boxing gold medal for the United States in 1964 in Tokyo and held the world heavyweight boxing crown from 1970 to 1973.

He is eternally linked with Ali thanks to their trilogy of fights in the 1970s, among the most famous in the history of the sport. Frazier won the first and Ali took the next two.

"The world has lost a great champion," Ali said in a statement on Monday. "I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration. My sympathy goes out to his family and loved ones."

While both fighters were American blacks and Olympic gold medallists, their personalities could not have been more different. Ali was a charismatic self-promoter. Frazier was a proud, no-nonsense man who dropped out of school at age 13.

Frazier won the world heavyweight title in 1970, knocking out champion Jimmy Ellis, after Ali had been stripped of the championship in 1967 for refusing to fight in the Vietnam War due to his Muslim beliefs.

Ali was reinstated in boxing and met Frazier on March 8, 1971 at New York's Madison Square Garden, in a bout billed as "The Fight of the Century." Frazier sent Ali to the canvas with a left hook in the 15th round. Ali got up but Frazier won by unanimous decision.

The brutal encounter left both men hospitalized. Frazier later lost his title in 1973 to hard-hitting George Foreman.

"Good night Joe Frazier. I love you dear friend," Foreman said on his twitter account (@GeorgeForeman).

The second Ali-Frazier fight on January 28, 1974, again at Madison Square Garden, had no title at stake but whipped up huge interest after both had been fined for a TV studio confrontation in the build-up.

Ali won his second fight against Frazier on a 12-round decision and then went on to beat Foreman to reclaim the heavyweight title.

He defended it in the third Frazier fight on October 1, 1975, in an encounter in the Philippines known as "The Thrilla in Manila" -- one of the most famous sporting events of the 20th century. After the fight the beaten Frazier said he had hit Ali with punches "that would have knocked a building down."

TECHNICAL KNOCKOUT

The two punished each other for 14 rounds, then Frazier's trainer and cornerman Eddie Futch stopped the fight before the 15th round, while Frazier fumed in the ring corner, one of his eyes swollen shut. Frazier never forgave Futch for giving Ali a victory by technical knockout.

Despite their differences Ali's respect for Frazier grew after their third fight and he described his opponent as "the roughest and toughest" he had ever fought.

"If God ever calls me to a Holy War I want Joe Frazier fighting beside me," Ali was quoted as saying in his biography written by Thomas Hauser.

Their rivalry was waged not only in a boxing ring. Ali ridiculed Frazier as a "gorilla" and an "Uncle Tom," a deeply insulting term referring to a black who acts in a humiliatingly subservient way towards whites.

For his part, Frazier insisted on calling his foe Cassius Clay, the birth name that Ali changed in 1964 for a Muslim name.

Frazier remained bitter towards Ali for decades.

"I am who I am, and yes, I whipped Ali all three times," Frazier told the New York Times in 2006.

"Ali always said I would be nothing without him," Frazier said. "But who would he have been without me?"

Frazier will always be remembered for his role in a golden era for the heavyweight division.

"He was definitely one of boxing's greats. He was legendary. He has made his mark in boxing, everyone knows his history," former British world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis told the BBC. "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 was born in segregated South Carolina in 1944, the youngest of 12 children. He said his uncle told him when he was a boy he would become the next Joe Louis, the celebrated black heavyweight champion of the 1930s and 1940s. Moving to Philadelphia, he aimed to make good on that prediction.

Frazier amassed a career record of 32 wins four defeats and one draw. He retired after a second loss to Foreman in 1976, then came out of retirement for a fight in 1981 before ending his career for good. His only losses were to Ali and Foreman.

Ali became a beloved sports legend but Frazier was never embraced in the same way. He also lost almost all of his money. He lived alone in an apartment above the gym where he trained young fighters in a run-down section of Philadelphia.

Frazier in the 1980s managed the boxing career of his eldest son, Marvis, who was best known for devastating knockout losses to champions Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson. Frazier's daughter Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde entered women's boxing and fought Ali's daughter Laila, losing on a decision in 2001.

(Written by Will Dunham, additional reporting by David Warner, Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Bill Trott, Vicki Allen and Martyn Herman)

uk.reuters.com