NO. 8 JOE FRAZIER
Years active: 1965-76; ’81
Record: 32-4-1
KOs: 27
KO percentage (of wins): 84
KOs inside 3 rounds: 14
Notable KO victims: George Chuvalo, Jimmy Ellis (twice), Bob Foster, Doug Jones, Jerry Quarry (twice), Eddie Machen, Buster Mathis
Background: One knockdown that stands among the most memorable of all time was the product of a Frazier left hook that landed on the jaw of Muhammad Ali in the 15th round of their first fight. Ali, who had one of the best chins ever, survived the punch but Frazier in that moment solidified his reputation as having one of the most lethal punches in boxing history. Retired heavyweight Stan Ward, who sparred with both Frazier and George Foreman, was asked for an EsNews video which of the two punched harder. No hesitation. “Frazier,” he said, “Frazier.” Smokin’ Joe wasn’t a mere puncher. He was a quick, athletic, bobbing, weaving, whirling-dervish of a fighter who made life hell for anyone who crossed his path in the ring. And he wasn’t a big man. He was 5-foot-11½ and not much over 200 pounds at his best. Still, his punches – particularly that left hook – could make your head spin around multiple times. He was 29-0 (with 25 knockouts) and the undisputed king of the sport when he ran into a bigger, more power man in the form of George Foreman in 1973. Including that fight, he was only 3-4-1 in his final eight fights. However, those with whom he tangled understood the impact of his punches and fire he brought into the ring every time out. “I … have to say that the most vicious and relentless fighter on the planet, in those days, was Smokin’ Joe Frazier,” Joe Bugner said.
More quotes: Bob Foster (KO 2) told The Ring: “I guess he timed it and I got hit by that left hook and I don’t remember nothing else after that! (Laughs.) I was in the dressing room putting on my shoes, one of my trainers pulled them off and I’m putting them back on and he said, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m getting ready to fight.’ He said, ‘Bobby, the fight’s over with.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘He knocked you out.’ I said, ‘On National TV?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ And I started crying, ‘Oh God, everybody saw me get knocked out.’” … NPR.org: “The (left hook), which clinched then-heavyweight champion Frazier’s victory over Ali in that fight, Tom Goldman said, ‘started around Joe Frazier’s left hip” but “its origins stretch back a couple of decades to segregated South Carolina, where a young boy from a sharecropping family – Frazier was about 8 – fashioned a punching bag out of a burlap sack stuffed with rags and corn cobs and Spanish moss. By Frazier’s own estimation, he slugged that thing for the next six or seven years damn near every day.’”