Frazier should be idolized in Philadelphia, not Rocky

By: Joby Martin

Posted: 7/23/04

One man, a boxing legend, has come to symbolize the grimy work ethic of our city. His relentlessness, his heart and the gutsy nature in which he clawed his way to the top have become a symbol for this blue collar town.

He is immortalized by a magnificent statue outside of one of the city's most prominent sporting arenas

That man is not Joe Frazier. His name is Rocky Balboa, and he's fake. He's a character, completely fictional, yet he is idolized even after all these years by hundreds of thousands of Philadelphians.

Am I the only one who sees a problem with that?

Don't get me wrong, I love the Rocky movies just as much as the next Philly guy, but wake up and smell the coffee, people. Rocky Balboa never existed, never threw a punch and certainly never won a title.

"Smokin' Joe", trained on the streets of North Philly and beat Muhammad Ali, the greatest fighter of all time.

Frazier won a gold medal. He was a two-time heavyweight champion who successfully defended that title six times. The only men to ever knock down Joe Frazier were Ali and George Foreman. Foreman once said of Frazier, "Joe Frazier would come out smoking. If you hit him, he liked it.

"If you knocked him down, you only made him mad."

And yet a character portrayed by Sylvester Stallone has made him a forgotten man in his hometown.

Frazier's Gym, once a boxing mecca, now stands abandoned, the broken shell of a place that had come to represent Philadelphia's storied boxing history. The building now blends in with the rest of the dilapidated and deserted buildings that line North Broad.

Frazier's legacy is in many ways also abandoned, overshadowed by the media-assisted greatness of Muhammad Ali, slowly suffocating underneath America's waning interest in boxing.

Frazier was undoubtedly one of the five greatest heavyweight fighters of all time. I personally consider him to be the most underrated fighter of all time, overlooked in the greatest era in boxing. The only time he fought Ali in his prime, he landed perhaps the greatest left hook of all time and took Ali's belt. After Ali took the second fight in a 12th-round decision, the stage was set for the "Thrilla in Manila", a fight that most consider to be the greatest of all time.

Ali's victory in the greatest fight of all time makes him an easy choice for greatest fighter of all time. What most people don't know is that Ali had just entered his prime, while Frazier was just barely still clinging to his.

Those extra years of beatdowns had left Frazier almost completely blind in his left eye.

If you watch the tape of the fight, Frazier is constantly trying to force Ali to his right side, because that's the only way Frazier could see him.

Frazier's corner called the fight in the 14th round, although it became apparent that Smokin' Joe would've kept fighting until his last breath. Ali later said that the fight was "the closest I've ever come to death."

Frazier's place in history is, sadly, the quintessential runner up. His legacy will always lie in the shadow of Ali. But that is what this city is all about. Not about scripts and screenplays and Oscars. Philadelphia doesn't get the girl. Philadelphia doesn't win the championship.

Hollywood endings simply don't happen here.

While cities with more glitz and flash like New York and Boston get all the attention, Philadelphia gets up and goes to work everyday, regardless of whether or not anyone is watching.

We are too, sadly, the quintessential runner up.

Frazier embodied it all, devoid of glamour, fighting on with or without the adoration of the public eye. Frazier made this city proud, even though it chooses not to acknowledge him.

Burn the Rocky statue. Melt it down and build back up into the image of something Philadelphians can truly be proud of - one of their own.

Joby Martin is a sophomore majoring in communications.