Yep another legend gone, from a sport which is also dying on its arse.. Had personalities and made the sport worth watching, unlike todays grey men. No such thing as the "big fight" now.
I feel that a lot has been lost by the fact that the 'pay per view merchants' have took the personalities away from the mass public view...
Sad to hear about Joe's death. He would have been a great champion in many ages, and was unlucky just to come along in the age of Ali. Even then, he was good enough to give Ali three good runs for his money, and beat him once. There hasn't been too many who could give Ali such a difficult time. RIP, Joe.
Cancer is the worst! My Auntie was told she had cancer but they had caught it early so the signs were good - she died within a month! Wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Respect to Joe and thoughts to his family.
Great boxer and I've always rated him as one the best at a time when there were many top end boxers in his division such Bugner, Ali, Foreman and I also include Buster Mathis among those talented fighters. He went toe to toe with them all and held his own on numerous occasions. An old housemate of mine used to have hundreds of fights on video but our favorites to watch after a good night in the pub were always Smokin Joe or Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
I used to love watching the boxing when I was a kid with my dad. If it wasn't on telly we would find it on the old tube radio. My dad had so many boxing videos of the true greats of the sport. Marciano Lamotta Andres Hagler Hearns Tyson. Boxing has become a ****ing fiasco now though. And you are exactly right Comm. Dying on its arse.
Aye some canny names there, Tyson was ..well just Tyson an outright animal in his prime, and the old question of could he have been the greatest ever.. Hagler is the one for me though, pure class. Now there is only a handful of names anyone even recognises.
Jake Lamotta was a pure animal. I'm sure a few of us have seen the film "Raging Bull". To be fair Robert De Nero did a good job of it. However, when you see the old news reel footage of the real man you'd see how nasty he was in the ring. Marciano was a master, he'd wear his opponents down then step in & pezzle them to ****. Incidently, there was another guy who retired undefeated contrary to popular opinion called Gene Tunny.
And always a legend because of it. Tough as a barrel of nails and fought like a street-fighter, a clever one though. x
I was lucky enough to see the Bugner v Frazier fight at Earls Court and what a night it was. Frazier never stopped moving forward no matter what Bugner hit him with in fact at one point Bugner did hurt Frazier and almost stopped him shuffling forward as he did. Smokin Joe was a class act, it's sad to read of his passing. RIP Joe and thank youfor all the wonderful memories.
Frazier & Ali one of the best fights ever. 2 blokes actually died in the arena of heart attacks with the hype and excitement.
Hopefully they will show that documentry about the rumble in the jungle again, fascinating and I'd advise anyone to watch it Can I add another name to those mentioned Ken Norton, he was robbed when he fought Ali.
Im'e surprised nobody has mentioned Rocky Balboa i know he didn't manage to fight joe but he must of been pretty good as he made time to make films aswell,
Rocky was actually based on a real fighter - Chuck Wepner. Wepner was a nobody but got his chance, and deprived Ali of a rather fine record. Ali had been knocked down before, but never whilst he held the title. Wepner hit him with a less than great punch and Ali tripped over Wepner's foot and went down! I read an interview with Wepner once. He looked over to his corner, grinning at what he'd done. And one of his corner men shouted back "Chuck, Chuck, he's getting up, man, and he looks real m-a-a-d". Ha, I don't think the rest needs telling, does it. Stallone picked Chuck Wepner's brains incessantly for that film - and never paid him a bean.
