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Over the weekend, HBO premiered a "Thrilla in Manila", a documentary that takes an in-depth look at the Joe Frazier-Muhammad Ali fight in 1975. To promote the doc, Frazier has been doing interviews talking about that era of boxing and his feud with Ali and appears that he still holds on to some animosity towards his former foe. "I'm sorry that he is the way he is, but I didn't have too much to do with it. It was the good man above,'' Frazier told the Associated Press about Ali suffering from Parkinson's disease. "Maybe I did have a little to do with it, but God judges, you know what I'm saying? We don't have the power to judge that the man has above."
Frazier also believes that Ali calling himself the greatest and his arrogant boasts was "a slap in the Lord's face,'' along with changing his name to Muhammad Ali from Cassius Clay. Back in the 70's Ali called Frazier a "gorilla" and an Uncle Tom numerous times before their infamous fights.
"I respect him as a guy who did a fine job in the fight game,'' Frazier said. "I don't think he really loves me. I didn't like nothing he done, you know?''
Comments: (7)
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By: Steve on 4/17/2009 7:26PM
I used to like Ali until I saw the HBO series. Joe is the man if it went down the way it did. But Foreman is something else, wow! He's huge and powerful! Ali was very disrespectful and crossed the line if Joe took care of him and got him back in the ring and supported his decisions and gave him money, that's not right!
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By: justtypedthis on 4/20/2009 2:30PM
This is nothing new to fight fans. Ali was a great fighter (before being banned) but other than that he was just a selfish egomaniac and nothing more. But because of his charisma, anti-establishment stance and his rebel athlete/boxing martyr image, supporters and eventually even the mainstream media created this myth around him which just swelled his head even more.
Ali and his supporters rode the Ali Myth right through the 70's. With the effect that referees, judges, and ringside commentators were heavily biased in his favor (watch Ali v Frazier 2 and Ali v Norton 2 & 3). Even when Leon Spinks whipped him the judges still tried to give the victory to Ali.
I grew up as a huge Ali fan but after actually watching his fights properly, discovering the way he behaved and realizing the effect it had on his cheated and maligned opponents, my opinion of him diminished greatly. The part in the documentary where - after the Manila fight - he apologises to Marvis Frazier for his remarks but doesn't have the guts to apologise to Joe Frazier himself shows the true qualities of the man.
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By: stare k on 4/20/2009 7:30AM
HE JUST TALKED TOOO MUCH .WHAT EVER FRAZIER LOOKED LIKE GOD MADE US ALL.
BLESSINGS
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By: meanvee on 4/22/2009 5:08PM
I wish we could have heard what ali had to say, the whole show was from fraziers perspective, I love and still believe ali is the greatest of all time, I'am sure he regretted most of the mean statements he said about frazier back then, and that it was all basically to promote the fights.
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By: lawrence on 4/27/2009 12:42PM
i always felt badly for joe. he did not have the greatest skills but he was tough and courageous. and he was decent. i remember the meanspirited things ali said about him and that are recounted in the documentary. it's shocking, and no one, especially frazier, a proud but humble, godfearing man, deserved. one of the ironies, of course, is that for all of ali's "support" of black people, he said some of the most racially hateful things that anyone, white or black, could say about frazier. had a white boxer called frazier a "gorilla" and made fun of his flat nose, etc, prior to the fight, there would have been an outcry from exactly the people that ali pretended (pretends?) to represent. it not only crossed the line of sports promotion, it crossed a line of human decency. shame on him, not just for betraying joe personally, but for having betrayed those principles that he allegedly stood for and is now, remarkably to me, famous for.
so, it's easy to understand joe's bitterness, and i, for one, dont think any less of him. and i wish his corner would have let him come out in the 15th in manilla. i have no doubt who'd have been standing up at the end of it.
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By: Bilal on 9/01/2010 10:32PM
Joe Frazier was a good Boxer, but he is far from being as great as Ali. Ali was and is a hero, the most recognized athlete of all time. He was a hero then and a greater hero now. For him to go from beating the most talented boxers in the world, to fighting and beating Parkinsons , He is my HERO,
Why is he a greater hero now?? Because he has admitted that Parkinsons is a test from divinity and has humbled him. For him to see that from that perspective, he is great! Think about it going from being bigger than life, to being humbled by Parkinsons and beating it through Faith, he is a true champion. He has never thrown in the towel. Round 15 and still standing,...My Hero!!
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By: Gerald Gilman on 6/04/2009 1:01AM
Can't begin to tell you Joe, how I feel about you and Mohammad. You've both been inspirations to me throughout my life. I learned much from the documentary. It just so happens I taped the Thrilla In Manilla years back and stayed up and watched it for about the 39th time, after the HBO special. Learned much about Bernie Patcheco. Relized I don't care for him too much after his comments and the way he treated the reporter. You were in line for that fight and it was probably, at least to me, the greatest fight of all-time. After reading so much about how your life & that of Ali's life have intertwined over the years, I was so happy to see a picture of you 2 sitting together at a basketball game some years later. Thought you may have resolved your issues. If there's any consulation Joe, I never took any of his deflamatory remarks seriously before your first meeting at MSG in 1971. I know however that you did. Also, I felt bad when he married Veronica Porsh some years later and invited Antonio Inoki the wrestler, and didn't invite you to the wedding. It's probably too late to apologize for all he said about you over the years, but together, the both of you filled a great gap in many of our lives. I painted a picture in my head a long time ago. When one of you guys are getting ready to take your last breath, I kind of wonder, who will be standing over who in that hospital room. I hope that time is a long time off. But I know it'll be the one person that either one of you would want to be there most.
Just call me a sentimental fool.
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