Joe Frazier: the left hook, the Garden and the first man to beat Ali | Ultimate Boxing Reunion

Why fans still care

JOE FRAZIER was the first man to beat Muhammad Ali. He did it in 1971 at Madison Square Garden, when both of them were unbeaten, and he did it with a left hook in the 15th round that the International Boxing Hall of Fame calls perhaps the most famous left hook in history.

He was shorter than nearly everyone he fought, about 5 feet 11 and a half, and he made up for it by never going backwards. George Foreman, Who’s Who number 35, who beat him twice, said years later, “I didn’t fear anyone except Joe Frazier.”

If you mention Ali to a fight fan of a certain age, Frazier’s name comes up within a minute, and usually with the word Manila.

Early life

He was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, on 12 January 1944, the son of a sharecropper. His first job was picking vegetables on other people’s farms, and he left school young.

At 15 he moved north, first to New York and then to Philadelphia. He got work in a slaughterhouse, and he went to a boxing gym for the first time to lose weight.

He turned into one of the best amateur heavyweights in America. The one man who beat him before the Olympics was Buster Mathis, in the 1964 US trials. Mathis was injured, so Frazier went to Tokyo in his place. On 23 October 1964 he beat Hans Huber of Germany in the final, three judges to two, and came home with the heavyweight gold medal.

Career chapters

1. 1964Olympic heavyweight gold, Tokyo
2. 1965Professional debut, 16 August, Philadelphia
3. 1966Gets up from two knockdowns to beat Oscar Bonavena at Madison Square Garden
4. 1968Stops Buster Mathis for the New York State heavyweight title
5. 1969Stops Jerry Quarry in a title defence at the Garden
6. 1970Beats Jimmy Ellis to become undisputed heavyweight champion
7. 1971Beats Muhammad Ali, the Fight of the Century
8. 1973Loses the title to George Foreman in Kingston; beats Joe Bugner in London
9. 1974Loses the second fight with Ali, over 12 rounds
10. 1975The Thrilla in Manila
11. 1976Loses to Foreman again and retires
12. 1981One more fight, a draw with Floyd “Jumbo” Cummings
13. 1990Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame
14. 2026His statue moves to the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps

The rise 1965 to 1968

He turned professional in 1965 under Yank Durham, who trained and managed him, and stopped Woody Goss in the first round in Philadelphia on 16 August. His first 11 wins all came inside the distance.

The first real test came at Madison Square Garden on 21 September 1966. Oscar Bonavena put him down twice in one round. Frazier got up both times and won a 10-round decision. By the end of 1967 he had also beaten Eddie Machen, Doug Jones and George Chuvalo, and he was 19 and 0.

The New York title 4 March 1968

Ali had been stripped of the title, and the WBA set up an elimination tournament to find a new champion. Frazier went another way. He fought his old amateur rival Buster Mathis for the New York State title at the Garden and stopped him in round 11.

He defended it against Manuel Ramos, Bonavena again, Dave Zyglewicz and Jerry Quarry, who was stopped after seven rounds on 23 June 1969.

Undisputed 16 February 1970

The WBA champion was Jimmy Ellis. They met at the Garden, and Frazier put him down twice in the fourth round with left hooks. Ellis’s trainer, Angelo Dundee, wouldn’t let him come out for the fifth, and Frazier was undisputed heavyweight champion. That November he knocked out the light heavyweight champion Bob Foster in two rounds in Detroit.

The Fight of the Century 8 March 1971

Muhammad Ali, Who’s Who number 33 was back from his years out, and he was unbeaten. So was Frazier. Each man was paid US$2.5 million, and the Hall of Fame calls it the most anticipated heavyweight title fight since Louis and Conn in 1946.

The plan came from Eddie Futch, who was working his corner: throw the left hook the moment Ali’s right hand dropped off his head to throw the uppercut. In round 11 it worked, and Ali was badly hurt. In round 15 a left hook put Ali on the canvas.

All three officials scored it for Frazier: referee Arthur Mercante 8 to 6 with one even, Artie Aidala 9 to 6 and Bill Recht 11 to 4. Within the week, as Stan Hochman reported, Frazier was being treated for dangerously high blood pressure.

Kingston 22 January 1973

He defended the title against Terry Daniels and Ron Stander in 1972, then went to the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, to fight George Foreman. He was knocked down six times in two rounds and stopped in the second. It was the end of his reign.

Six months later, on 2 July 1973, he outpointed Joe Bugner, Who’s Who number 23 (story coming soon) over 12 rounds at Earls Court in London.

Ali again, and Manila 1974 to 1975

The second Ali fight, at the Garden on 28 January 1974, went 12 rounds, and Ali won the decision. Five days before it, the two of them grappled on the floor of an ABC studio.

He beat Quarry again that June and Ellis again in Melbourne in March 1975. Then came the third Ali fight, the Thrilla in Manila, on 1 October 1975 at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. It started at about 10:45 in the morning, local time, so America could watch it live.

After 14 rounds Ali was ahead on all three cards. Futch stopped it before the 15th.

Foreman again, and one last fight 1976 to 1981

On 15 June 1976 he fought Foreman again, in Uniondale, New York, and was stopped in round 5. He retired. Five years later, on 3 December 1981, he came back once, for a 10-round draw with Floyd “Jumbo” Cummings in Chicago, and that was the end.

After boxing 1981 to 2011

He trained fighters, among them his son Marvis, who challenged Larry Holmes, Who’s Who number 19 (story coming soon) for the heavyweight title in November 1983.

Joe Frazier died in Philadelphia on 7 November 2011, aged 67. Ali said, “I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration.”

Style, technique and the corner

How he fought

He came forward all night from a low crouch, bobbing and weaving under the other man’s punches. The Guardian compared it with the style that later made Mike Tyson, Who’s Who number 34 so dangerous.

The height mattered. At about 5 feet 11 and a half he gave away height and reach to most of the heavyweights he met, and the crouch and the pressure were how he closed the gap. Foreman remembered him as no taller than 5 feet 10.

The punch

The left hook was the punch. It hurt Ali in round 11 in 1971, and it put him down in round 15. Futch’s instruction that night was simple: wait for the right hand to come off Ali’s head, then throw it.

The corner: Durham and Futch

Yank Durham trained and managed him from his first professional fight until 1973. Eddie Futch worked his corner in the 1970s, drew up the plan for the first Ali fight and was the man who stopped Manila.

Sparring

Larry Holmes, Who’s Who number 19 (story coming soon) sparred with him before his own title years. “He broke my ribs but I said I ain’t quitting,” Holmes told Boxing News in 2020.

Weight

He was a heavyweight all the way through. For Manila he weighed in at 215 and a half pounds, nine pounds lighter than Ali.

Stories people still tell

1. The words.

   “Before we fought, the words hurt me more than the punches,” he said of Ali’s build-ups. He also asked, more than once, “But who would he have been without me?”

2. The best of the three.

   In 2008 he told the Guardian’s Donald McRae that the first fight was “the best fight between us.”

3. Back on the steps.

   In June 2026 his statue was unveiled at the foot of the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps, where the Rocky statue had stood for 20 years. Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr. said he “wasn’t a movie character, he was the real deal.”

Legacy

He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. Other fighters said it themselves. Lennox Lewis, Who’s Who number 29 said other great champions were made by testing themselves against him. Bernard Hopkins, Who’s Who number 9 (story coming soon), another Philadelphia champion, said the name told you everything: smokin’, with that famous left hook. And Foreman said Frazier had every big man in boxing afraid of the little guys.