PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania: Joe Frazier, who battled
Muhammad Ali in a famed 1970s boxing trilogy, has died after a
battle with liver cancer, his family said Monday. He was 67.
The family issued a news release confirming the boxer's death on
Monday night.
Frazier took on Ali in three dynamic fights in the 1970s, including
the epic "Thrilla in Manilla".
He had been under home care after being diagnosed a couple of weeks
ago with the advanced liver cancer that took his life, a family
friend said.
Frazier was the first man to defeat the legendary Ali, with a
unanimous 15-round decision over Ali in 1971 at Madison Square
Garden in what was dubbed the "Fight of the Century".
Ali won a unanimous 12-round decision in a 1974 rematch and
famously completed the trilogy with a victory in 1975 at the
"Thrilla in Manila" by stopping Frazier after 14 rounds in their
epic slugfest in the Philippines.
A year later "Smokin' Joe" lost for the fourth and final time in
his career when George Foreman knocked him down twice before the
fight was stopped in the fifth round.
Frazier won the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association
heavyweight titles in February 1970 by stopping Jimmy Ellis in the
fifth round of their fight at Madison Square Garden.
He defended the title four times before running into the bigger and
stronger Foreman in their first fight in 1973.
Frazier began his career with 29 consecutive wins before suffering
his first loss, and losing his heavyweight title, when he was
knocked down six times in two rounds by Foreman in 1973 in
Kingston, Jamaica.
He retired following the second Foreman fight in 1976 but returned
for one more bout in 1981 at age 37.
In recent years, Frazier had turned to singing, forming a back-up
group called the Knockouts.
- AFP/fa
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RIP
