Smokin' Joe Frazier, the former heavyweight champion who fought Muhammad Ali three times, passed away on Monday in Philadelphia following a brief battle with liver cancer at age 67.
Mr. Frazier, who won the heavyweight title in 1968, became the first boxer to knock down and defeat Mr. Ali at New York's Madison Square Garden in 1971. In the last fight between the twosome in Manilla in 1975, Smokin' Joe (who had lost the title to George Foreman two years earlier) gave Muhammad (who won back the title by defeating Mr. Foreman in 1974 in Zaire)all he could handle, going 14 rounds, never giving an inch, but had to be held back by trainer Eddie Futch because he was unable to see.
Rest in peace, Joe.
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