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Older, Joe Frazier still packs a punch
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Walking haltingly with a cane, his eyes puffy, his face showing the wear and tear of a life in the ring, Joe Frazier looks every bit the 65 years it says on his birth certificate -- and probably then some.
His speech is slurred. He doesn’t seem to even understand half the questions asked at the Philadelphia Flyers “Skate Zone’’ in Voorhees, NJ, where Frazier has come to meet feisty goaltender Ray Emery, who’s sporting likenesses of Philadelphia favorites Smokin’ Joe and Bernard “The Executioner’’ Hopkins along with the fictional Rocky Balboa on his mask this season.
But just when you start to think how tragic it is to see a man once larger than life -- the former HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD -- turn into this, Joe Frazier shocks you. He still packs a punch, you see. Only it’s a jab coming from his mouth, not that thunderous left hook that once floored Muhammad Ali.
The same Ali who used to taunt Frazier in their heyday, back when Muhammad could “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."
Now, ironically, the tables have turned and it’s Smokin’ Joe delivering the barbs. "He said he’s got Parkinsons," said Frazier in classic Ali mold. "I think he got left hook-itis."
The man who used to seem out of his element in such a setting, is suddenly feeling right at home. Give him an audience and Frazier has them all wrapped in the palm of his hand. Approaching a segment of media waiting for him in the hallway he quips, “You guys collecting money?"
"You want to buy a newspaper?," chirps back one of the literati, whose company is currently in the midst of bankruptcy hearings."
The fun was just beginning. Before Emery came into the room, Frazier, who had watched some of the Flyers’ practice session, spoke of his newfound admiration for the sport. "Boxing is not close to hockey," said Frazier, who later put on a Flyers No. 1 jersey with his name on it and gave Emery an autographed “Thrilla in Manila’’ DVD. "It’s a tough, tough game.
"In boxing, it's one-on-one. In hockey, you can get hit by two or three guys at the same time. Man, that's rough. A guy like Ray is much tougher than me.
"It's crazy out there on the ice. For my fights, we used to have one doctor. These hockey games, it's like there's a whole hospital back there."
Emery, genuinely thrilled to meet a man he had seen fight only on video, naturally disagreed.
"The amount of work you have to put in to be prepared for a 12-round fight is incredible," said Emery, known for his combative style in goal, though he insists he’s only been in one NHL fight. "I have a lot of respect for what boxers do."
Since the feeling is mutual, Frazier was asked if he ever tried to skate. "I’m black," he replied, laughing. "In 20 years of fighting I never saw (black) guys on the snow, swimming in a pool or in an airplane.
"There are some things we don’t do."
But when it comes to boxing and especially the hot new sport of mixed martial arts, Frazier doesn’t like what he sees these days. "They don’t do any real fighting, man," he complained of MMA,, bending down to demonstrate what goes on inside the Octagon. "When a man goes down instead of going to a neutral corner they jump on him and keep beating him.
"And I don’t see any fighters in boxing like there used to be."
Certainly none like Smokin ‘ Joe Frazier, still a Philadelphia institution. And 28 years since he last threw a punch in the ring in a draw against somebody named Jumbo Cummings, still bobbin’ and weavin’ like old times.
Even if he's lost a step or two.
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