‘Joe Frazier Day’ declared by Philadelphia City Council on 52nd anniversary of his win over Muhammad Ali
Frazier was a heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist who trained for years in Philadelphia.
Joe Frazier’s left hook was celebrated again Wednesday by his adopted hometown on the 52nd anniversary of his signature win over Muhammad Ali.
Councilman Kenyatta Johnson declared Wednesday “Joe Frazier Day” with a resolution presented last month to City Council. Johnson was scheduled to join Frazier’s family for a celebration at 3 p.m. at the boxer’s statue in South Philadelphia outside Xfinity Live.
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Frazier floored Ali with a hook in the final round of their 1971 Fight of the Century to retain his heavyweight title with a 15-round unanimous decision. Frazier won the title a year earlier with a knockout over Jimmy Ellis. Frazier and Ali’s first meeting was said to be watched by 300 million people around the world. They met twice more, with Ali winning both.
Frazier died in 2011. He was 67.
The son of a South Carolina sharecropper, Frazier moved to Philadelphia as a teenager and won a gold medal at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. He worked part-time at a slaughterhouse in Kensington, where he trained his fists by punching slabs of meat long before Rocky Balboa did the same in the movies.
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He trained as a professional on North Broad Street in a three-story brick building near Glenwood Avenue. The gym — which still says “Joe Frazier’s Gym” above the entrance — is now a furniture store but has been registered as a historic place. Frazier lived at times in an apartment above the gym, which was a hub for boxing during a time when Philadelphia was known as one of America’s premier fight towns.