Remembering Joe Frazier

The former heavyweight champ who battled Muhammad Ali in an epic trilogy of fights dies at age 67. A roundup of tributes to Smokin' Joe

Joe Frazier, the sharecropper's son who became one of the 20th century's greatest boxers, died Monday after a long battle with cancer.
(Image credit: Bettmann/CORBIS)

On Monday night, boxing great Smokin' Joe Frazier passed away at the age of 67, after a long fight with liver cancer. He was best known for his notorious rivalry with Muhammad Ali. The two faced off in three epic fights: Twice at New York City's Madison Square Garden, in 1971 and 1974, and once in the Philippines, in 1975 — the famed "Thrilla in Manila." Frazier won the first fight, handing Ali his first defeat, but Ali prevailed in the latter two bouts. Here, a sampling of how the late, great, former heavyweight champ Frazier is being remembered:

He was so much more than Ali's foil: Yes, Frazier was best known for his rivalry with Ali, and their "famous trilogy" of fights, says Dan Rafael at ESPN.com. But Frazier "was a great fighter in his own right, a former heavyweight champion of the world, a 1964 Olympic gold medalist, and a worthy member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame." While Ali was the fighter who emerged victorious in their "storied rivalry," it was Frazier who won the first match with a decisive left hook in the 15th round. And remember, Frazier lost to only two men in his entire career: Ali and George Foreman.

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