FanPost

Boxing legend Joe Frazier dead at 67

Down goes Frazier.

Two-time world heavyweight boxing champion "Smokin'" Joe Frazier passed away on Monday night (Nov. 7, 2011) after a battle with liver cancer. He was just 67 years old.

The Philadelphia pugilist, who won a gold medal at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, is perhaps best known for his epic trilogy against Muhammad Ali.

Our friends at Bad Left Hook break down their rivalry:

In February 1970, Frazier picked up the WBC and WBA belts with a win over Jimmy Ellis. And 13 months later, he fought Muhammad Ali for the first time.

Frazier and Ali had an epic rivalry that makes today's worst media wars look tame in comparison. Ali's level of trash talk was at times well over the line, in the opinion of many, but Frazier made him pay in their first fight, winning a clear fifteen round decision at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971.

It was the pinnacle of his career. The two would meet twice more, with Ali winning a 1974 rematch at Madison Square Garden (UD-12), and then arguably the most grueling fight in boxing history in 1975, the famed "Thrilla in Manila."

A closer look at the career of "Smokin'" Joe, after the jump.

Any Maniacs out there old enough to remember his impact on the "sweet science?"

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