Joe Frazier and the sympathy crew

Have I posted in this.

 

:good

I guess the troll feeding frenzy happens when people are bored. I dunno.

 

As someone who was a boxing fan during the 1970s, I didn't sense that the general public had that much sympathy for Joe Frazier. Of course, Joe Frazier couldn't come close to matching Muhammad Ali in terms of popularity despite having fighting style which was much more fan-friendly. It didn't help that Ali may have been the most compelling boxing figure of my lifetime.

But I sensed that Frazier had more support among hardcore boxing fans than the casual ones at the time. Besides disliking Ali's fighting style, some hardcore fans were turned off by his actions and personality. When talking about Ali, some fight people and hardcore fans called him "Clay" long after he changed his name.

- Chuck Johnston

 

can't be arsed. That's 7 pages of my life gone if I did. I'm here now, at least.

 

So did all these guys " convince " themselves Joe was white?:roll::roll:

 

There always was and is today a portion of the public where race is a deciding factor. It's that way today and was that way in the 70's.

However Ali rubbed many the wrong way with his bragging, showboating, degrading of opponents. Ali played the villain and when you play a villain expect a good portion of the public to root against you.

This was what Ali wanted however. To be controversial, get people to want to see him lose so badly they would come and buy tickets to his fights. it's the "Gorgeous George" story that Ali told often.

Many cheered for Frazier because quite simply he has the more likable personality while Alis brash loud manner took many aback.

 

I'm fully aware of why Ali was less popular than a lot of his fellow boxers, but to say it was solely down to racism is garbage, particularly if the opponents his haters were rooting for were themselves black.

What rubbed people up the wrong way was the guy was radical, and highly outspoken.

 

You hate Joe Frazier? That's an over exaggeration I would hope.

 

A historian should not have a favourite fighter.

In practice we all fail to meet this ideal, but it is what we should aspire to.

 

Very strong statements. I know of no one who shares that viewpoint and I live 90 min from Philadelphia.