Joe Frazier discussion- "Final goodbye"

On point, I don't think any version of Frazier beats any version of Foreman, maybe the fighter of the FOTC would have been more competitive, and poss lasted longer than the overweight, bloated, out of shape Frazier that lost the title, but beat big George, not for me. stay safe guys.

 

Always wondered why Ali trash talked Joe the way he did, I mean, Frazier helped him as a friend financially after all no? I guess it started for hype, then as time progressed Joe didn't like the material being thrown at him which made Ali start on Frazier even MORE to get into his head (which actually backfired into Joe being even more motivated).

Even after all, Joe never truly forgave Ali even til his grave, which is a sad, sad, truth.

 

Spoken like a grown man living in his mother's basement.

 

If I recall correctly I think Smokin' Joe once said he admired Henry Armstrong's non stop phenomenal work rate. He mentioned aspirations of doing similar...

And that he did.

 

Ali did it to all his opponents as part of the show but Joe was the first one to not let it affect him negatively.

Ali seemed ashamed of what he did too. He never apologized man to man and instead tried to do it via proxy such as telling Marvis to relay it to his father or getting his apology published in a newspaper.

Seems Joe had to keep an act whenever he and Ali were invited to be on the same show after retiring, he had to be respectful once Ali’s condition worsened.

 

Just my opinion but I think it had something to do with the confidence Joe carried himself with. He believed in himself as much as Ali believed in himself. Ali sensed it and tried to rattle him.

One time Ali something to the effect of "he believes he's my equal." I guess for Ali he might have been rattled himself and maybe that's why he took the talking from playful to very personal, racist and very nasty.

Frazier didnt mind Ali talking about how fast he was or how pretty etc. He admired Ali as a fighter as he was coming up. It was the other stuff obviously.

 

I adore this thread. Thanks TS and contributors