Today, the boys on the afternoon show will get a chance to do the show live from Lansdowne in advance of the Ringside for Youth event that happens every year in support of the Ottawa Boys and Girls Club. People get a chance to see some great amateur boxing, help support a great cause and rub elbows with of the greats that the fight game has ever produced.
This year is no exception as both Smokin’ Joe Frazier and Gerry Cooney will be in attendance tonight at the event.
I’m such a big fan of boxing myself and it’s a little disappointing that I won’t be able to be there in person, but circumstances dictate that I stay back and help out with the show from in-studio today, so all I can tell myself is that there will be other years, but since I do have the blog, I figured I would share some thoughts on both fighters.
I’ll start with Joe Frazier. Even though I’m only 27 years old, I’ve always made it a point of watching older fights from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s in any way that I can so that I could get a sense of the history of some of the great fighters of all time. Joe Frazier is a fighter that I’ve seen so many times on replays because his style allowed for fan-friendly fights all the time. His record of only having 7 of his 37 fights go the distance will attest.
In a city full of talented fighters like Philadelphia, what separated Frazier from the rest wasn’t his skill-set (although he was very skilled), but it was his heart, determination, hunger and a hell of a left hook. His head was consistently bobbing and weaving to make up for the lack of height he fought with in the heavyweight division. All of this combined allowed him to become a world champion and a legend in the sport.
And yet, whenever people think about him, they think only about the losses that he suffered. He only lost 4 times in his career, but 3 of those losses still haunt his legacy to this day. In the trilogy against Muhammad Ali, he won the first fight, but lost the next two...but ask anyone on the street if Frazier beat Ali and most would tell you no.
He also lost twice to George Foreman with the first loss as devastating of a loss as a fighter could have. Like a lot of other people, I believe Frazier was never the same after the savage beating that George Foreman unleashed in their first fight. The picture of Foreman’s clubbing blows forcing Frazier down to one knee and Howard Cosell yelling, “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!” will be etched in stone forever. Foreman’s beating of Frazier and others led him to be the overwhelming favourite against Ali for the Rumble in the Jungle.
All the negative aside, he stood very tall as one of the elite in the sport during his time, especially in a division that was so stacked and helped to keep boxing a part of the mainstream during the 60’s and 70’s. When I listen to him today, I won’t be thinking about the losses. I’ll be thinking about a truly great fighter that would wipe the floor with any of the heavyweights out there now if he could go back in time to when he was on top of the game.