We all know about the bitter rivalry with Muhammad Ali that culminated in the legendary Thrilla In Manilla, but below are ten facts about Smokin' Joe Frazier that you might not know:
1. Frazier asked President Richard Nixon to give Ali his license back so he could beat him:
"I went to see President Nixon at the White House. It wasn't difficult to get a meeting because I was heavyweight champion of the world," he told The Guardian in 2008.
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"So I came to Washington and walked around the garden with Nixon, his wife and daughter. I said: 'I want you to give Ali his license back. I want to beat him up for you.' Nixon said, 'Sure, I'd like that.'
2. He became pretty much blind in his left eye by 1974:
Whilst training in the sixties, shards of metal landed in the Philadelphian's eyes while training with a faulty speed bag.
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His trainers kept it a secret so he could continue to fight, but a decade later, he developed cataracts from the scar tissue and lost most of the vision in his left eye.
3. He wasn't actually picked for the US Olympic boxing team when he won gold.
Frazier failed to make the 1964 US Olympic Boxing Team when he lost to Buster Mathis in the Olympic team trials (although he was hard done by).
Initially, he went to Tokyo as a sparring partner for the whole team but made the cut when Mathis was injured. He'd go on to win gold, despite fighting with an injured thumb.
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4. He cut up his Olympic gold medal:
"I had my Olympic gold medal cut up into eleven pieces. Gave all eleven of my kids a piece. It'll come together again when they put me down," he told Esquire in 2004.
5. He was the inspiration for some of Rocky's most famous scenes:
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Working in a slaughterhouse of Cross Brothers Meat Packers Inc, he would often land punches on beef stored in a refrigerated room. This act inspired Sylvester Stallone in his portrayal of fictional Philadelphian heavyweight, Rocky Balboa.
"I was the drain man. My job was to make sure the blood went down the drain. But sometimes, early in the morning, I'd go down that long rail of meat and work on my punching," he told The Guardian. Frazier even made a cameo in the film.
6. His left hook was one of the greatest in the history of boxing:
Frazier's left hook was responsible for the majority of his 27 knock outs. His trainer, the legendary Eddie Futch, also devised a strategy to beat Muhammad Ali with it.
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He noticed that Ali was off guard whenever he threw a right hand uppercut. Frazier was asked to throw his left hook precisely at that moment. The strategy worked and Ali was staggered in the 11th round and was knocked down in round 15. Frazier won "The Fight of the Century" by unanimous decision.
7. He was a musician:
He created a band called 'Joe Frazier and the Knockouts,' recording a number of songs. He ended up touring all over Europe and the USA.
8. His generosity cost him:
Frazier owned and managed a boxing gym in Philadelphia, which he was forced to put up for sale in 2009 after he was diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure. According to subsequent media reports, Frazier had lost a fortune due to his own generosity and naivety.
9. Frazier never truly reconciled with his bitter rival.
Ali and Frazier certainly respected each other but the two men were definitely not friends. In the run up to their fights, Ali had repeatedly called him a "gorilla" and an "Uncle Tom", incensing Frazier.
Even by the nineties, Frazier was still angry. After seeing Ali, battling Parkinson's disease, light the flame at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Frazier told reporters he would have liked to have "pushed him in."
The two were photographed together a few times before Frazier passed away but unfortunately the two greats never truly buried the hatchet. Despite this, Ali summed up the death of Smokin' Joe Frazier in 2011 best...
10. Muhammad Ali on the death of Joe Frazier:
"The World has lost a great champion. I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration."
