Tribute to Real Men #2: Joe Frazier

In part 2 of my tribute to real men, I have installed my favorite heavyweight boxer ever: Smokin' Joe Frazier. Frazier was a man's man...the kind of inhumanly tough guy you can only read about it seems like. As a boy, he was born into abject poverty but he taught himself how to box and his first heavy bag was self-made out of a mail sack, sand, and cinder blocks. By the time he'd reached adulthood and pursued a boxing career, it became clear that a lifetime of sheer grit and guts was ready to make up for what he lacked in overall natural ability.

Frazier, as a fighter, could be described by me as RELENTLESS. He chased his opponents down, and with his signature 'bob and weave' to the extreme style, he confused usually accurate punchers and wore them down against the ropes with a constant, steady attack on the body, his forehead buried in their chest. He'd whip the ribs for a while to set up head shots, and his money punch was the left hook. When it landed, it took someone with a special kinda chin to take that shot and live to tell about it. After Ali lost his boxing license over the draft controversy, Frazier won what would eventually be recognized as the world heavyweight title. He was a proud, respectful, and honorable champion, and a fierce fighter inside the ropes. He held the belt until Ali returned, and after Ali had gotten his ring rust off, the two squared off in 1971 for the 'linear' world heavyweight title that technically still belonged to Ali. I should back up and say that prior to this, Ali had repaid Frazier's gift of money during his non-boxing years after the draft incident by verbally lashing out at him, ruining Frazier's childrens' school lives, and making a mockery of Frazier's attempts to train for the bout. He never once gave Frazier the loan back, and spat nothing but venom at his attempts to reconcile.

The fight was legendary. Frazier came out at the opening bell and headhunted all night long, pushing Ali into the ropes when possible and looking to land the left hook. He brutalized Ali from pillar to post, never tiring, never giving up, and never losing focus, despite the tough Ali hanging in there. Finally, in round 15, Frazier landed a MURDEROUS left hook square in the chin that put Ali down, but Ali beat the count and went the distance. Frazier won a unanimous decision. He eventually lost the title to George Foreman in 1973, and lost two subsequent matches to Ali, but the beatings Frazier laid on Ali are widely considered to have caused or contributed to his development of Parkinson's disease.

Frazier is an example of a real man, a man who never once compromised his principles for anyone, a man who, when faced with adversity, told it to go to hell. A man who when faced with his greatest challenges, said "bring em on." And he did it with class and dignity at every turn. In a sport where massive egos rule the day, Frazier stood alone as a beacon of respect and honor. For his stellar boxing career, particularly his shocking victory over Muhammad Ali (making him the first man to ever beat Ali) which I find especially satisfying due to my intense dislike for Ali, and his comporting of himself as a champion, Joe Frazier makes my Hall of Fame for Real Men.