Joe Frazier Biography

Fast Facts

• Spent early years on a farm in Beaufort, SC, where his father was a farm worker and moonshiner
• Spent three years an amateur boxer with only one defeat
• Made 1964 U
• S
• Olympic team as an alternate, but when a fighter was injured, he stepped in and won the only U
• S
• gold medal
• Turned pro in 1965
• Became heavyweight champion by defeating Jimmy Ellis in 1970 and was dethroned by George Foreman in 1973
• Beat Muhammad Ali in 1971 in the Fight of the Century, the first of their three meetings
• Ali would go on to win in 1974, and in the Thrilla in Manila in 1975
• Was inducted into the U
• S
• Olympic Hall of Fame in 1989, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990
• Owned a gym in Philadelphia, and trained son Marvis—a heavyweight contender
• Toured with a band as Smokin' Joe Frazier and the Knockouts
• Released an autobiography in 1996: Smokin' Joe: The Autobiography
• Was diagnosed with liver cancer in September 2011