Joe Frazier statue to be unveiled 12th Sept

[Redback Rasta]

Great to hear a statue in honour of the great "Smokin" Joe Frazier will be unveiled on September 12th in Philadelphia.

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.s ... ty_li.html?

[yancey]

Great to hear a statue in honour of the great "Smokin" Joe Frazier will be unveiled on September 12th in Philadelphia.

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.s ... ty_li.html?

Hail to the great Smokin' Joe Frazier, "King when it mattered".

[Redback Rasta]

Great to hear a statue in honour of the great "Smokin" Joe Frazier will be unveiled on September 12th in Philadelphia.

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.s ... ty_li.html?

Hail to the great Smokin' Joe Frazier, "King when it mattered".

Probably never got the recognition he truly deserved. Hope it's a big statue.

[Rexob]

Great to hear a statue in honour of the great "Smokin" Joe Frazier will be unveiled on September 12th in Philadelphia.

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.s ... ty_li.html?

Hail to the great Smokin' Joe Frazier, "King when it mattered".

Great to see the statue! But Ali was not the same fighter he was before being exiled?

[handsofstone]

Terrible decision to give Frazier a statue

I mean seriously how many movies did Smoking Joe make?

[Redback Rasta]

Great to hear a statue in honour of the great "Smokin" Joe Frazier will be unveiled on September 12th in Philadelphia.

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.s ... ty_li.html?

Hail to the great Smokin' Joe Frazier, "King when it mattered".

Great to see the statue! But Ali was not the same fighter he was before being exiled?

Angelo Dundee said so himself and I agree. But Ali was still a force to be reckoned with and good enough nearly 4 years later to beat George Foreman, who was thought to be invincible.

[yancey]

Gotta be the truth, Angelo would never, ever spin something to fit the desired view of things, would he?

[Redback Rasta]

Gotta be the truth, Angelo would never, ever spin something to fit the desired view of things, would he?

Did anyone know Ali better than Angelo did?

[Redback Rasta]

The "Smokin Joe" statue will be 12 feet tall - nice

http://www.BS.com/joe-frazier- ... hia--95327?

"Statue artist Stephen Layne recreated Frazier in mid-punch, depicting the moment after Frazier landed the punch that knocked down Muhammad Ali in the 15th round, on March 8, 1971. Frazier was the first fighter to defeat Ali".

http://www.boxing247.com/press-boxing/j ... r-12/45765?

[yancey]

Gotta be the truth, Angelo would never, ever spin something to fit the desired view of things, would he?

Did anyone know Ali better than Angelo did?

So there we have it!

Because no one knew "Ali better than Angelo did", that means Angelo would never, ever spin things to make his side look better, right?

Congratulations on your critical thinking skills.

[Redback Rasta]

Gotta be the truth, Angelo would never, ever spin something to fit the desired view of things, would he?

Did anyone know Ali better than Angelo did?

So there we have it!

Because no one knew "Ali better than Angelo did", that means Angelo would never, ever spin things to make his side look better, right?

Congratulations on your critical thinking skills.

Congratulations on your skepticism.

Believe nobody and you'll learn nothing.

[Giancarlo]

But Ali was not the same fighter he was before being exiled?

There are two opposing opinions in here on whether or not Joe defeated a peak Ali. And I think the key word is 'opinions'.

Personally, I have always thought Ali's massive ego led him to taking the match too early into his comeback. A couple more fights under his belt might have made all the difference. But it's all conjecture. Frazier, prior to getting smashed by Foreman, would have always been a very tough fight for Ali.

[Redback Rasta]

Good post

I take nothing away from Frazier beating Ali in their first meeting. As I said above, Ali was still good enough to beat Foreman years later and he did win the subsequent two meetings with Frazier too of course.

Frazier beat a very good Ali. Was it the best version of Ali? Not according to Angelo Dundee, and do you know what? I respect Dundee's opinion. Even if others choose to call it into question.

Was Ali underdone going into the first Frazier fight? Perhaps he was? Quarry gave him less than 4 rounds. So he really only had the Bonavena fight of any substance in the lead-up.

Anyway, full points to Frazier for winning The Fight of the Century. He was a legend and I'm glad they are building him a statue - that's why I posted the thread after all.

[elmersalsa]

The great Smokin' Joe Frazier will never get the credit he deserves. The American public and media will always say things like "Ali was coming from a layoff", "Ali was not in his prime", "Ali underestimated Frazier", "Ali did not train and had a huge ego before the fight", and all sorts of things. Even the Black American or African American public didn't accept Joe and never gave him credit. He was always second fiddle to The Greatest.

But, nobody wants to give Smokin' Joe credit for the greatest performance ever, at THE HIGHEST LEVEL COMPETITION, for all the marbles. Ali fought his heart out. But, Frazier was not going to be denied. He was terrific!

[yancey]

The great Smokin' Joe Frazier will never get the credit he deserves. The American public and media will always say things like "Ali was coming from a layoff", "Ali was not in his prime", "Ali underestimated Frazier", "Ali did not train and had a huge ego before the fight", and all sorts of things. Even the Black American or African American public didn't accept Joe and never gave him credit. He was always second fiddle to The Greatest.

But, nobody wants to give Smokin' Joe credit for the greatest performance ever, at THE HIGHEST LEVEL COMPETITION, for all the marbles. Ali fought his heart out. But, Frazier was not going to be denied. He was terrific!

Ali fought one of his greatest fights ever in the FOTC.

That superlative effort, and the fact that Frazier was ring rusty from having only 2 rounds in the ring in the year preceding the fight (as opposed to Ali's 18 rounds), are probably what allowed Ali to see the final bell that night.

I've always maintained that Frazier's true peak was '68-'70, before the ankle injury and other medical issues. He definitely showed quicker movement to me in the '69 Quarry fight as opposed to later fights.

RIP, Smoke. Great fighter and sportsman.

[yancey]

The great Smokin' Joe Frazier will never get the credit he deserves. The American public and media will always say things like "Ali was coming from a layoff", "Ali was not in his prime", "Ali underestimated Frazier", "Ali did not train and had a huge ego before the fight", and all sorts of things. Even the Black American or African American public didn't accept Joe and never gave him credit. He was always second fiddle to The Greatest.

But, nobody wants to give Smokin' Joe credit for the greatest performance ever, at THE HIGHEST LEVEL COMPETITION, for all the marbles. Ali fought his heart out. But, Frazier was not going to be denied. He was terrific!

delete--duplicate post.

[Syntax Error]

Poor Joe must be turning in his grave.

Here we have a situation were the great man is being quite rightly honoured & the thread has now become yet another argument about whether he was really better than Ali etc etc.

How many times has this been done in the last 44 years?

Is it possible to Let Smokin' Joe have HIS moment for once with no mention of Muhammad Ali?

Surely we all owe him that, at least just once?

[yancey]

Poor Joe must be turning in his grave.

Here we have a situation were the great man is being quite rightly honoured & the thread has now become yet another argument about whether he was really better than Ali etc etc.

How many times has this been done in the last 44 years?

Is it possible to Let Smokin' Joe have HIS moment for once with no mention of Muhammad Ali?

Surely we all owe him that, at least just once?

I think Smokin' Joe would be quite okay with the FOTC being discussed.

[Redback Rasta]

Poor Joe must be turning in his grave.

Here we have a situation were the great man is being quite rightly honoured & the thread has now become yet another argument about whether he was really better than Ali etc etc.

How many times has this been done in the last 44 years?

Is it possible to Let Smokin' Joe have HIS moment for once with no mention of Muhammad Ali?

Surely we all owe him that, at least just once?

I think Smokin' Joe would be quite okay with the FOTC being discussed.

Of course he would. It was probably his proudest moment.

[JMac]

Good for Joe. He was a good man and now maybe B-Hop will shut up about Philly fans caring more about a fictional boxer and black boxers getting no respect in Philly.

[Redback Rasta]

[Redback Rasta]

[Tinnie]

Great stuff. Better late than never.

[Crease]

A worthy honour for a true legend of the squared circle.

[Rexob]

? Looks like Tyson?