As Duran was entering the ring, Joe Frazier, who was ringside for the fight, was asked by New York Times columnist Dave Anderson if Duran reminded him of anybody. It was a leading question, for Anderson thought that Duran's ferocity would remind Frazier of himself. "Yeah," Frazier replied. "He reminds me of Charles Manson. Joe was always known for being the rival of the most charismatic man in boxing, but can we all just take a second to appreciate how funny and witty he was himself. He said something awesome every time he opened his mouth.
My favorite was during the FOTC Ali said "Don't you now you're in here with GOD tonight, Joe?" Joe laconically replied "God picked the wrong night"
Ali kept calling me ugly, but I never thought of myself as being any uglier than him, I have 11 babies, somebody thought I was cute. Joe Frazier
“I had my Olympic gold medal cut up into eleven pieces. Gave all eleven of my kids a piece. It'll come together again when they put me down.” -- Joe Frazier
“I loved fighting... It gave me the opportunity to prove myself, to stand up and say, 'I'm the best. I matter. I am.'” -- Joe Frazier
Talking about the 2nd Ali fight Joe said that "Ali held me and mugged me all night long. I`m glad I didn't have any $ on me because he would have taken some from me." Champions Forever Video.
Joe was a very funny witty guy but because his nemesis was Ali, he never had much of a chance to shine so to speak. Unfortunately ali had a habit of portraying Joe as some kinda thick hick, which was far from true. Plus Joe held back a lot of insults against Ali because of the way he was raised, to be respectful. I believe eventually Joe thought, sod this and started to give as good as he got. Joe preferred to let his fists do the talking any way. A great man, in and out of the ring.
Re: the left hook that knocked Ali down. Frazier said: "I brought that one from way back in the Country." (Frazier grew up on a farm in South Carolina. Not long after Frazier started working, his left arm was seriously injured while he was running from the family's 300 pound hog. One day Frazier poked the hog with a stick and ran away. The gate to the pigpen was open, however; and the hog chased him. Frazier fell and hit his left arm on a brick. His arm was torn badly; but as the family could not afford a doctor, the arm had to heal on its own. Joe was never able to keep it fully straight again)
Watching Ali light the Olympic Flame he said," if I was next to him I would have pushed him in."Not quite so funny.
you could tell that Frazier deep down could never forgive Ali for some of the malicious things that Ali said about him in the build up to their fights.