joe Frazier's hatred of Ali justified?

Frazier walked thru hell in most of his big fights.

Foreman beat Frazier bad in their 2 fights and they don't
disrespect each other.

So now you are back to Ali....so you have to wonder why
Ali did it in the first place.

 

i can understand joes resentment but for his own sake he should let it go although i think hes too long in the tooth for that now.
personally speaking, i think most of it was to sell the fights, even though the fights sold themselves, and Ali just went a bit too far. Still, it resulted in them making a lot of money for each other.
Also i recall Ali wasnt too good at taking a bit of ribbing himself as his press conference with Bonavena shows and the old saying is if you cant take it dont give it.
But yeah, frazier should let it go for his own sake above anything else

 

You can't tell a man what he's allowed to feel.

 

joe is justified in his bitterness.to be called a gorilla and an uncle tom and to have his family ridiculed too is enough.
ali might not have meant all he said but he did say it and it cut deep.

 

Yes & no.

I can understand him disliking Ali but its hard to understand why he STILL does after all these yrs... time is the best healer known... obviously not to Joseph tho.

 

True but look at what Ali has become to the average (ie non boxing fan) person.He's portrayed as a symbol of rebellion,virtue,bravery,pride and latterly kindness and decency whereas Joe's basically portrayed as a figure of bitterness and resentment now.

Fight fans know that these perceptions are way off the mark but the general public doesn't and that would have to **** Joe off.

For every Ghosts of Manilla publication that tries to redress the balance there's a dozen nuthugging tomes by the Thomas Hausers or ****ing Davis Millers that again perpetuate the Ali myth industry.

So I don't blame Joe in the slightest for still hating on Ali but by the same token I too wish he would let it go.

 

Quite a few fighters disliked Ali. He had a way of getting under a guys skin, and could trash talk with the best of them. The young Ali was a angry type, and very disrespectful in the ring, standing directly over his fallen opponents and taunting them.

Ali called Frazier an uncle Tom ( Way out of line ), a gorilla, the white man's champion, and an average fighter. Yeah--Frazier has the right to be upset, and Ali never apologized when the two were active boxers.

 

Joe Frazier should move on. Ali admits that he went over the top with him. Joe should be proud of his legacy,and forget the insults,which he must know Ali never meant anyhow.

 

Frazier still feels the pain of what Ali said years ago in promoting their fights and just running his mouth as usual. It's not as severe as it once was because he freely admits to wanting peace with Ali, knowing that the man can't speak as loudly for himself.

It would be easy for Frazier to speak for himself and avenge all the negativity that Ali did to him and other opponents but as he's gotten older, Frazier's been kinder and more respectful of Ali. The nastiest things Ali said were calling Frazier an Uncle Tom, Gorrilla, White Man's champ. Anyone who doesn't see the justification of Frazier being angry, considering the Civil Rights act freshly signed, Viet Nam going on, wouldn't understand what it feels like to be hurt by racist BS. The man helped Ali get his license back only to be back-stabbed with the nastiest of insults. Who wouldn't be little bit angry?

 

I do have a problem with Frazier's anger toward Ali. Ali was an extremely cruel individual most of his life. He turned somewhat humorous later in last years (Earnie Shavers being the "Acorn"). But was a real dickhead to Frazier. Don't believe any of the "just promoting the fight" BS. Ali was an *******.

 

Most of us cannot comprehend what Joe went through in the 70's. Ali had most of the black population in his pocket. Joe was pictured as anti-black to the average black American. It would be tought for anybody to know that everywhere you go, you're going to be percieved as an "Uncle Tom" because one man said you were. That was Ali's power at that time.
When someone hates you and threatens you and your family for no reason, and the guy who started it does nothing to rectify it, that is a wound that just doesn't heal. People should remember that Joe was a victim in all of this. Hatred begats hatred.

 

I think in Facing Ali, the fighters put a lot of truth behind their words. I think George and Holmes said, there was jealousy. Ali was good-looking, had a grea body when he trained, and probably had all the best women, and was the most popular. Being jealous is natural.
There is a lot more to Frazier and Ali than petty jealousy. All the other fighters laugh about, but you can see the pain in Frazier's eyes when he talks about it. Joe's pain is not something brought about by jealousy.