Quijano: The closest thing to death was fight Joe Frazier

Saturday, November 26, 2011

I’VE been meaning to toll the bell for Joe Frazier since last week, but of course I had to address the pressing issues surrounding Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez III, so I guess it’s better late than never.

Not that I don’t care much for Smokin’ Joe. On the contrary, he has made an indelible imprint on me as one of the fondest childhood memories I have of my late father, Atty. Froilan Quijano, was when he would refer to my favorite pair of shorts as “Prazyer” trunks.

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In the 70s, the vogue then were mid-sized trunks but Frazier wore large, loose-fitting ones (albeit not oversized by today’s standards) to his ring battles.

LORE. Fate might be unkind to Joe as he will forever be remembered as the other half of the Frazier-Ali lore, but undeniably, he was a great fighter by himself.

Master purveyor of the left hook, he threw it with such insouciant single-mindedness, he believed he could destroy almost every opponent with it.

It has been reported that a childhood injury limited movement on his left arm such that he could never really fully extend it, thus resulting in what was labeled as a “permanently cocked” weapon.

He loved to dictate the pace of the fight, bobbing and weaving, constantly moving forward and throwing hooks, swarming his opponent.

He became a world heavyweight champion in 1970 when he stopped Jimmy Ellis in 5 rounds.

Among those who fell prey to that prodigious left hook were Buster Mathis, Jerry Quarry, George Chuvalo and of course, Muhammad Ali.

TRILOGY. Perhaps it was hard luck for him to be plying his trade in the same era as the fighter generally referred to as “The Greatest,” but the truth is that they made each other great.

Their styles both contrasted and complemented each other. While Ali loved to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, Frazier preferred to seek and destroy.

Ali also liked to hold his right hand low, which made an easy inviting target for Joe’s primary weapon, the left hook.

Their trilogy will forever be immortalized as probably the greatest and most compelling series in heavyweight history.

In their first fight, both were undefeated titleholders eager to lay claim to the title of undisputed world champion. Frazier won that one by decision, knocking down Ali numerous times.

It was dubbed the “Fight of the Century.”

Prior to the second fight, both protagonists had an altercation at the television studio after Frazier mentioned that Ali had been taken to the hospital after their first fight.

Ali gained revenge in the rematch, winning by unanimous decision. In that fight, referee Tony Perez was accused of underhanded behavior when he prematurely halted the fight in the second round, thinking it had ended, just as Ali had Frazier on queer street.

As we all know, their third encounter was the legendary “Thrilla in Manila,” a fight often dubbed as one of the greatest in all of sports history.

Ali controlled the fight early with his speed and fluid boxing but Frazier rallied in the middle rounds and hurt Ali with left hooks and body shots.

Ali summoned up unbelievable reserves of strength and courage in the last couple of rounds and the fight was stopped after the 14th round with Frazier unable to see punches with a badly battered eye.

Perhaps Ai’s greatest compliment was the fact that he referred to the third fight as the closest thing to death. Ali often admitted that he was lucky as Frazier quit just before he was about to.

Frazier harbored a lot of ill will toward Ali even after they retired, mainly due to Ali’s inflammatory remarks and incessant taunting, but in 2009, the hatchet was buried after Joe finally declared he no longer had any resentment against his nemesis.

Rest in peace, Smokin’ Joe.

LAST ROUND. It’s on my nephew Karl Antonius De Pio, who recently celebrated his birthday. Cheers!

(jingo_quijano@yahoo.com)