Joe Frazier was born in Beaufort, South Carolina on January 12, 1944, and his family later moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He won a gold medal in the heavyweight division in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. He moved up the ranks and won the New York State heavyweight championship on March 3, 1968. Joe knocked out the portly Mathis in the 11th round and was universally recognized as heavyweight champ in Muhammad Ali’s absence. This was despite the fact he was only officially recognized by a handful of states besides New York.
I vividly recall the first fight I watched on tv being his world title fight against WBA champ Jimmy Ellis in February of 1970. I paid close attention to the call by Howard Cosell on ABC’s Wide World of Sports as Joe beat Ellis up, and knocked him out in the 5th round. It would be the first of a litany of professional boxing fights I would watch in my lifetime, and the spark of interest was lit that Saturday afternoon.
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