The passing of Frazier, Boxing died long ago

Joe Frazier died yesterday. To me, boxing died long ago. Factually my second statement is not true. Pay Per View fights are still very popular and the top fights make money unheard of even in the heyday of boxing.

Still I don't think anyone can dispute that the significance of boxing on the culture of America and the world for that matter has disproportionately smaller.

Joe Frazier, Muhammed Ali, George Foreman, and to a lesser extent Ken Norton and Larry Holmes, these men were iconic. I was a kid in the seventies and can remember how my Dad did not like Ali and his braggadicio. I remember watching highlights of the big fights on ABC Wide World of Sports. I remember waking one, I think, February morning in, again I think, 1978 to learn that Leon Spinks had defeated Ali in an upset.

Ali got the title back but that was the beginning of the end of his career. Much of what killed fighting I think was the dearth of heavyweights. Another major problem was the splintering of the titles. At one time there were three champions in each division. This was no way to make people interested. For the same reason the Yankees are good for baseball Ali was good for boxing.

Tyson had a run and he certainly brought interest back for a time. Today, no one knows who the champions are. The culture does not celebrate boxing, if anything it jokes about it, denigrates it.

Joe Frazier was a great fighter. Read an article today in The New York Times that described Frazier and Ali in The Thriller in Manilla. Ali could barely walk after the fight and Frazier though his team threw in the towel before the fifteenth round was at a party later that night and did not look the worse for wear. Ali won the fight but he paid a price. Frazier was a monster in the ring. His 1971 fight defeating Ali was another fight for the ages.

Frazier fought Foreman, Foreman fought Ali. These three and some others gave us a constant spectacle of fights that everyone talked about. Perhaps I am misreading the current situation, perhaps my belief is based on a feeling that the white culture has abadoned boxing so therefore it is abandoned. Still I stick to my thesis, boxing is in no way as significant in the lives of Americans. Not in our house for certain.

Rest in piece Joe Frazier.