Joe’s first bout of 1969 was on April 22, 1969 vs. Dave Zyglewicz at the Sam Houston Center in Houston, Texas. ‘Smokin’ Joe stopped him in one round on ABC TV, in what was his third defense of heavyweight title. His next opponent in two months would a whole different story.
On June 23, 1969 Joe met Jerry Quarry at Madison Garden in New York City. Quarry gave as much as he took, but Joe was the relentless aggressor as usual, Frazier eventually cut Quarry badly, and it was over when Jerry couldn’t answer the bell for round eight. Talks of a unification bout surfaced soon after, with the Quarry bout being the last one for Joe in the 1960’s.
Jimmy Ellis won the WBA heavyweight title in their tournament, the same one Frazier wasn’t invited to. The two agreed to meet on February 16, 1970 at the Garden in New York, and it was shown on closed-circuit only. I was nine years old at the time, and the replay on ABC’s Wide World of Sports on February 21, would be the first professional fight I ever saw.
Joe was obviously so much better than Ellis, easily swarmed him, then knocked him down twice in the fourth round. When Ellis couldn’t answer the bell for the fifth, Frazier was now the unified heavyweight champ. My young eyes were certainly impressed with Joe’s power and punch, and I wasn’t surprised he won the fight. At that age, I never figured that before the decade of seventies ended, boxing would be my favorite sport.
Frazier fought just once more in 1970, against light-heavyweight champ Bob Foster. Joe destroyed Foster in two rounds in the bout from Cobo Hall in Detroit, and had his eyes set on the come-backing ex-champ Muhammad Ali. Ali had just defeated Jerry Quarry is his return bout in October, was looking for another bout in December, and a super fight with Frazier in early 1971. At just 10 years old, boxing was not that important to me, but even I wanted to see this huge one.
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