Joseph William Frazier was born on January 12, 1944 in Beaufort, South Carolina. HIs family worked as sharecroppers, so he was introduced to hard work as a child. At 15, Joe was working for the Bellamy family, who owned a farm and were mentors to him. Following their urging, Joe and decided to move to north Philadelphia at 15, and start life on his own.
He began boxing there, and won the Golden Gloves heavyweight championships three years in a row, from 1962 thru 1964. His only loss came at the hands of Buster Mathis, who would prove to be his biggest hurdle to make the 1964 U. S. Olympic boxing team. In the finals of the Olympic trials that summer, Mathis wore extremely high trunks, causing Joe to be penalized for low blows. Buster won a controversial decision at the New York World’s Fair, forcing Joe to go home thinking about quitting the sport altogether. His managers convinced him to go as an alternate, so he decided to keep boxing, and do as they suggested.
While in training in Tokyo, Mathis got injured, and Joe was sent to replace him. Frazier wound up winning the Olympic gold medal, the only American to do so that summer. He returned home a hero, and sought his manager ‘Yank’ Durham to help him turn professional. Durham put together Cloverlay, a group of local businessman, including future HBO announcer Larry Merchant, to invest in Joe’s pro career. This allowed him to train full time, not carry a job, and focus strictly on boxing.
Joe’s first professional bout was on August 16, 1965 at Convention Hall in Philadelphia against Woody Goss. Joe dropped him in one, then Goss grabbed Frazier until the ref was forced to halt the fight for excessive holding. His second fight was on September 20 vs. Mike Bruce, back at Convention Hall in Philly. Frazier got dropped in the second round, but quickly got up, and knocked Bruce out in the third.
Joe fought twice more in 1965, knocking out Ray Staples on September 28, and Abe Davis on November 11, both in Philadelphia. The year 1966 promised to be a big one for the young talented Frazier, with his managers planning to step up his competition in preparation for a shot at the heavyweight title.
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