Thread: Smoking Joe Frazier's final fight

Smoking Joe has been diagnosed with liver cancer. If things continue as they are he could be dead by the end of the night.

He's a true legend. Ali, Frazier and Foreman all belong in the history books. It's a sad night for boxing and the world. These past few years have taken some great people from us.

If only they weren't being replaced with thrash. I feel sorry for this new generation. They're growing up without anyone to look up to.

Joe Frazier:
heavyweight
5"11 1/2
73" reach
32 wins 27 by KO
4 losses
1 draw

Originally Posted by CroZ

Smoking Joe has been diagnosed with liver cancer. If things continue as they are he could be dead by the end of the night.

Hmm... that's pretty fast. I wonder how long he or others knew he had this?

^ about five weeks but they only told the press tonight I think. Here's hoping he pulls through and I can come back here to laugh at my own thread.

I loved those days when those guys were the champs, it's true i don't even know who is the world champ these days. Joe was a true entertainer just like Ali and Forman. People will always look back and point at those days as the golden age of boxing.

^Strictly speaking Ali belongs to the 60s and 70s, by the 80s those guys were washed up and in terrible shape. Boxing was mocked because a relatively ancient Ali managed to come back and take the title. By the end of the 80s networks were trying to kick boxing off TV because there was too little ad space during fights. During the 80s boxing was losing its heavyweight division and a fighter deemed "boring" Larry Holmes took over the circuit. Meanwhile boxing was kept alive by the lower weights classes in Hagler/Duran/Leonard/Hearns etc. Heavyweight boxing wouldn't be revived until a young Mike Tyson became champion, and the rest is history.

Today people don't know who the HW champion is mainly because there are two champion, two Ukrainian brothers name Wlad and Vitali Klitschko. There are five world titles today with Wladimir Klitschko holding four and his brother Vitali holding one. Back in 2004 the two brothers were becoming huge in the US until two untimely losses between the two. Both brothers became more cautious in their fighting style afterward, earning them the stigma of being boring, since two 6"7 muscle bound giants failed to rush in and destroy most of their measly 6"3 competition. All these things considered, HBO decided to kick both brothers off the air, forcing the pair to return to Europe where they have become super stars.

In Europe today they are two of the biggest sporting stars, with their average attendance figures per event being in the 50k range, close to Ali's once off record of 60k. Wlad's last fight was against David Haye, a fight which was watched by 500 million around the world. Given the fact they make most of their opponents look like little children fighting their dad their fights are usually considered unappealing dominations. The apparent golden age of boxing didn't end, it just moved to Europe. It'll come back once the US get their own heavyweight champ again, since eastern euros aren't typically the most marketable people to americans.

Sorry for rambling a bit but I like to talk about boxing.

I'd much rather the youth of today look up to diseplined fighters such as the boxers above or certain martial arts personalities rather than the whole 'gangster' type of bravado that seems to be the in thing.

People will always have issues which cause them to want to vent physical aggression and Smoking, Ali and Foreman showed a way to do that so it brought the actual conflict itself to a case of respect (i.e. through the rules of boxing). There are no real fighting icons nowadays seemingly other than soap opera style wrestlers.

It is a shame to see the old masters dying off.

Originally Posted by CroZ

^ about five weeks but they only told the press tonight I think. Here's hoping he pulls through and I can come back here to laugh at my own thread.

sorry do not mean to distract but what is this
^?

CroZ meant to point to the post above his and reply to that.

Originally Posted by CroZ

^Strictly speaking Ali belongs to the 60s and 70s, by the 80s those guys were washed up and in terrible shape. Boxing was mocked because a relatively ancient Ali managed to come back and take the title. By the end of the 80s networks were trying to kick boxing off TV because there was too little ad space during fights. During the 80s boxing was losing its heavyweight division and a fighter deemed "boring" Larry Holmes took over the circuit. Meanwhile boxing was kept alive by the lower weights classes in Hagler/Duran/Leonard/Hearns etc. Heavyweight boxing wouldn't be revived until a young Mike Tyson became champion, and the rest is history.

Today people don't know who the HW champion is mainly because there are two champion, two Ukrainian brothers name Wlad and Vitali Klitschko. There are five world titles today with Wladimir Klitschko holding four and his brother Vitali holding one. Back in 2004 the two brothers were becoming huge in the US until two untimely losses between the two. Both brothers became more cautious in their fighting style afterward, earning them the stigma of being boring, since two 6"7 muscle bound giants failed to rush in and destroy most of their measly 6"3 competition. All these things considered, HBO decided to kick both brothers off the air, forcing the pair to return to Europe where they have become super stars.

In Europe today they are two of the biggest sporting stars, with their average attendance figures per event being in the 50k range, close to Ali's once off record of 60k. Wlad's last fight was against David Haye, a fight which was watched by 500 million around the world. Given the fact they make most of their opponents look like little children fighting their dad their fights are usually considered unappealing dominations. The apparent golden age of boxing didn't end, it just moved to Europe. It'll come back once the US get their own heavyweight champ again, since eastern euros aren't typically the most marketable people to americans.

Sorry for rambling a bit but I like to talk about boxing.

We only promote disappointing fights here(in the U.S.), on "pay-per-view" no less, which drives fans away.

A lot of tweets from those in the business saying Joe passed away tonight. Promoter Lou Dibella says rumours of his passing are false.

Joe has been officially been declared dead
RIP

I heard this today also.

RIP

He was responsible for one of boxing's greatest moments ever: Knocking the self proclaimed "Greatest" right on his ass with a big left hook, and at the same time giving the "Mouth" a broken jaw. Thank you, Joe. Thank you, forever.