Smokin’ Joe Frazier, Our GQ With Flash, When Boxing Had Class
By Robert Brizel, Head RCM Boxing Correspondent
As we head into the New Year, and are filed with memories of years past, one can find it hard pressed to remember the athletes who brought class to professional sports. While many athletes do not comport themselves well financially, it is the emotional aspect which is the critical key to both emotional survival and emotional success.
It can be safely be said that the late Smokin’ Joe Frazier was more than just a heavyweight champion. While he never managed to resurrect his boxing career after he lost twice to Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, Joe’s face still epitomizes the good which can be found in professional boxing. It was not just his sent of gold chains and flashy jewelry and sharp clothes and hat, it was his sense of style mixed with kindness. Joe is, was, and will forever be a symbol of everything good in boxing, somebody everybody likes and still does.
While there are characters in the boxing soap opera, from Jack Johnson to Floyd Mayweather Jr., going back over a century, certain names are like the Abraham Lincoln of Boxing. John L. Sullivan, Gentleman Jim Corbett, Joe Louis, Gene Tunney, Jack Dempsey, Rocky Marciano, Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) Rocky Marciano, Ezzard Charles, Jersey Joe Walcott, Archie Moor, Sugar Ray Robinson, Alexis Arguello, Bert Sugar, Nat Fleischer, Emanuel Steward, Bob Arum, Bill Clancy, Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Bob Foster. They just don’t make them like they used to. I am talking about the famous names which will always intrigue us.
Smokin’ Joe Frazier was a class act for boxing, to be categorized in a class all by himself. Such a distinction does not always have a reason. Smokin’ Joe’s gentle, consistent and steady presence over the years, and remarkable sense of fashion style remain his trademark. Smokin’ Joe, being himself, somehow became the very reflection of boxing outside of the ring, a unique distinction!
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