Duran was a flat out jerk

I love Frazier and he did have class and dignity. But if you read his autobiography, he almost never gives an opponent credit and often had negative things to say about them. Ironically quite the trash talker given how angry he was with a certain Louisville Lip for their verbal exchanges.

 

Can you recall what opponents he sounded on in his autobiography? I remember Joe saying that Buster Mathis didn't have the heart to be a World Champion caliber fighter. He acknowledges it was a rough thing to say but in the spirit of honesty he was just putting it out there.
I didn't take that as he was just running him down for the hell of it. He also said Buster was one of the nicest guys around.

 

Well for every positive comment he had for Buster Mathis he was very critical of his diet and weight. He made comments i think like "tubby/fat boy" or something similar. As he described their fight, he constantly mocked Buster's style and made condescending comments about his "cute" style and how he broke Mathis down.

Well he claimed Oscar bonavena was racist allegedly because he "sniffed the air as if black people stank". I think he also called Oscar crude as a boxer. Oscar fought several black fighters and i don't recall them claiming he's racist but maybe Joe saw something they didn't notice.

He tore into and belittled Jimmy Ellis due to his lack of chin/durability and was gloating about how he broke him down and shrugged off his attacks.

No surprise that he went all the way in on Clay/Ali. He pretended like Ali barely won any rounds in any of their fights and hated on his style (despite struggling against it). There was a bit where (after the thrilla in Manilla), Ali apologized to Marvis and told him to tell his dad he was sorry and that it was to promote the fight. Frazier rejected the apology on the grounds that Ali should have apologized "face to face". Mind you, by Joe's own admission Ali was laying on a table covered in bruises and could barely move (probably why he had Marvis come to him). Ali himself said Manilla was the closest he felt to death.

The impression i got reading Joe's own personal thoughts is that he was the type who could dish it out but couldn't take it.

 

Not to mention he said he mocked Ali's Parkinsons and spoke abouting wanting to push him into the Olympic flame. Frazier definitely could be a jerk but I'm sure he wasn't all bad.

 

Frazier wasnt bad. Those comments came from being hurt by Ali's vicious attacks.
You gotta put it in perspective. The things Ali did and said to him from the late 60s on was way over the line. If you were in Joe's shoes and carried that for 25 years to see them prop Ali up as an example of sportsmanship (he wasnt) would make any rational person sick.
Joe didnt talk bad about his opponents or people in general. He was along the lines of live and let live.
When it comes to analyzing an opponent and noting their strengths or faults. That is just being honest.

 

That's an apologist position that I don't buy. Trashtalk before a fight sells the fight, it's part of the dynamic.

If Glass City Cobra is correct in what he says it sounds like Frazier was a trashtalking jerk without reason himself, plenty of times.