I’m not really much of a boxing fan. I couldn’t tell you who the current heavyweight champion of the world is. Still, the news of the passing of one of boxing’s modern greats - Joe Frazier - made me sad.
One of the memories of my childhood was laying in my bedroom listening late at night to an old white clock radio. For all the many nights listening to the static-filled AM station that it was tuned to, forty years later I can only remember two moments. One was a news report about the death of French President Georges Pompidou. Why? I have no idea! Perhaps hearing about someone dying as I laid there alone in a dimly lit room as a boy was a little jarring.
The other memory involved a round by round summary of the first epic Ali-Frazier fight, with the the announcement of Frazier’s victory. Once again, I’ve wondered from time to time about why this memory stayed with me. Perhaps it was because of the overwhelming media hype surrounding this fight. It could also be due to the personalities involved and what they seemed to represent during this time in America. For many in White Middle-America, Muhammad Ali seemed to embody an alien ideology of anti-Americanism (how could you be a patriot and refused to serve in Vietnam) and black radicalism. Joe Frazier seemed less offensive and angry than the loquacious Ali, and seemed to be more in line with traditional, conservative American values. Quite simply, Joe Frazier - whether he liked it or not - was pretty much the black fighter representing white America.
At the time, I’m sure our family sided with Joe Frazier, although during the ensuing years I began to understand Ali’s political views better and appreciate that Ali was a performer putting on an act for the viewers at home. Joe Frazier may not have been as colorful as Ali, but he certainly left his mark in the ring by his relentless and aggressive style. Ali remarked after one of their epic struggles that it was the closest he had ever come to dying.
If Smokin’ Joe fought the cancer that ultimately claimed his life half as hard as he battled Ali, that cancer might have emerged victorious but badly battered and bruised.
So long to another iconic figure from the 1970s.