One of the most famous heavyweight boxing champions ever—back when boxing champions still meant something in pop culture—Joe Frazier died Monday. He was 67. Frazier was celebrated for his relentlessness in the ring; he stalked opponents with stinging jabs, pulverizing body blows, and his trademark left hook—the punch that famously slammed Muhammad Ali in the jaw and knocked him to the pavement during the so-called “Fight Of The Century” at New York’s Madison Square Garden in March 1971.
Frazier was diagnosed with liver cancer just one month ago, but his condition quickly worsened, necessitating that he enter hospice care. In the end, cancer robbed Frazier of his life, but not his power: He remains a towering figure in the history of boxing, which for much of the 20th century not only dominated the imaginations of sports fans, but of the culture at large. The trilogy of bouts that Frazier fought with Ali were seen by many as a battleground for rooting out the deep political and social divisions of the time. Ali, an outspoken advocate for civil rights and opposition to the Vietnam War, was depicted as the representative for progressivism; the apolitical Frazier was cast as the establishment alternative. As Norman Mailer wrote in Life magazine, “Frazier had become the white man’s fighter, Mr. Charley was rooting for Frazier, and that meant blacks were boycotting him in their heart.”
As evidenced by the tributes written in the wake of his death, Frazier is still defined somewhat by this supposed dichotomy with Ali, and his resentment of this never really went away. Frazier’s bitterness boiled over publicly in 1996 when, as Ali lit the flame at the Olympic games in Atlanta, Frazier said he wished he could have “pushed him in.”
Frazier and Ali occasionally made public statements of reconciliation—Ali expressed his “respect and admiration” for Frazier in a statement released after his passing—but those pre-fight “Uncle Tom” taunts from 40 years ago still lingered. How could they not, given Frazier’s background? Born on Jan. 12, 1944, Frazier grew up the youngest of 12 children in Laurel Bay, South Carolina. His father was a sharecropper who—according to Frazier’s 1996 autobiography Smokin’ Joe—also ran moonshine and grew funny-smelling tobacco that Frazier later guessed was marijuana. Frazier dropped out of school at 13, moving to New York two years later to live with one of his brothers. He struggled to find work, and wound up stealing cars and selling them to a local junkyard for $50 apiece. At 16, he left for Philadelphia, and started boxing to lose weight as he worked at a slaugherhouse to make ends meet. He was discovered by trainer Yank Durham training in the city’s Police Athletic League gym. Durham later said of Frazier that he’d “had plenty of other boxers with more raw talent, but none with more dedication and strength.”
Under Durham’s guidance, Frazier won the heavyweight gold medal at the 1964 Olympics, and turned pro the following year. By 1968, he was 21-0, with 11 wins by knockout. Ali was the heavyweight champion, but in 1967 he refused to be drafted. Ali’s title was stripped, and he was convicted of evasion. In Ali’s absence, Frazier assumed the title, defeating Buster Mathis in 1968 and Jimmy Ellis in 1970.