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Sparring with Smokin' Joe: Joe Frazier's Epic Battles and Rivalry with Ali
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About Sparring With Smokin' Joe: Joe Frazier's Epic
Product Description An intimate portrait of Joe Frazier, whose ferocious rivalry with Muhammad Ali made them both boxing legends and cultural touchstones for an era. Just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the Fight of the Century (Ali–Frazier I), Sparring with Smokin’ Joe provides a penetrating, at times brutally candid, look at legendary champion Joe Frazier. Glenn Lewis spent several months in the gym, on the road, and in verbal tussles with Frazier in 1980, when Frazier was at a crossroads in his life and career. Lewis recounts Frazier’s candid takes on his still-recent Hall-of-Fame career, wars with Ali, and hard-scrabble roots. Frazier also reflects on Ali’s upcoming comeback fight against Larry Holmes, his own possible return to the ring, preparing his son Marvis for a pro boxing debut, and the impact of racial tensions and cultural upheaval on his fighting legacy. Sparring with Smokin’ Joe reveals compelling, never-before-heard anecdotes that give new insight into the usually private Frazier, including how Ali’s verbal attacks on Frazier alienated him from his own people and continued to trouble him long after retiring from the ring. An intimate portrait of a legendary fighter, Sparring with Smokin’ Joe finally shares Frazier’s side of an unforgettable rivalry. Review There is no shortage of material in boxing literature about the epic rivalry of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, but most of those accounts center on Ali. This compelling blend of reportage and narrative nonfiction changes the focus to Frazier, delving into his career in the ring and his life after his third fight with Ali, the iconic "Thrilla in Manilla," as well as exploring the brief boxing career of Frazier's son Marvis. Drawing on interviews conducted by journalist Lewis with Joe, Marvis, and others in the Frazier entourage in 1980, the book offers insightful portraits of both father and son, capturing not only Joe's love for Marvis, but also the former heavyweight champion's arguable mismanagement of his son's career by attempting to force the younger Frazier into adopting the same kind of brawling, ever-advancing approach that defined Joe's style. Along the way, Lewis reprises the high and low points in Joe's own career, offering a convincing argument that Frazier should have been awarded the decision in his second Ali bout and sensitively describing the effects on Frazier of Ali's cruel taunting of his rival, especially the absurd claim that Joe was an "Uncle Tom." This Maileresque combination of personal reflection, boxing analysis, and sports biography is a must read for fight fans, especially those whose understandable idolatry of Ali have kept them from seeing Frazier as a notably complex, generous, and loving man. ― Booklist, Starred Review In this fascinating account . . . Lewis charts Frazier’s rise from southern farm boy to 1964 Olympic heavyweight boxing champion, and argues that the Frazier-Ali rivalry that followed was arguably “the greatest individual rivalry in all of sports.” . . . Lewis’s access to Frazier’s family, meanwhile, offers insight into the fighter’s personal life and his influence on his son . . . Lewis brings a painstaking level of detail to his breakdown of the famous rivalry. This is a knockout. ― Publishers Weekly Even if you're not a boxing fan, you'll love this sizzling book. It’s a real eye opener into the lives and minds of two great fighters and the people around them, with never-before-known nuggets. Relive ‘The Fight of the Century’ and their two other venomous brawls. Go down to ringside with Frank Sinatra, Norman Mailer, Woody Allen, and even Burt Lancaster. Spectacularly human and a real page-turner. -- George Arzt, Former NY Post political reporter, Fox-5 News editor and Press Secretary to Mayor Edward I. Koch Not only is Sparring with Smokin’ Joe one of the best books having to do with Frazier, and hence his trilogy with Ali, but one of the better boxing books of recent years, a testamen
