Smokin' Joe snuffs out

[Ron Whitfield]

The guy gave us some exciting times in the square circle http://news.yahoo.com/boxing-great-j...051359865.html

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Smokin' Joe snuffs out

Smokin' Joe was one of the all-time greats. Would have reigned as a world champ longer, if not for the fact that the heavyweight division was so packed with talent during Joe's physical prime.

While Frazier would inevitably come up short in comparisons to Ali, it was unfortunate that Joe was the target of taunts that went beyond the pale. Ali calling his rival an Uncle Tom and a gorilla was simply unacceptable and wrong. When Ali finally gave a public apology that was long overdue, he qualified it by saying he was doing his part to "hype" their bouts. Awww, GMAB!! The Ali-Frazier bouts (especially the 3rd and final one) needed no promotional hype whatsoever to sell out the arena or to pack the auditoriums around the world showing the fights on closed-circuit telecast. No wonder Frazier had an alternating love-hate relationship with his archrival for so many years. But it was good to see that Joe finally seemed to have put the bitterness aside in recent times.

R.I.P. Joe. We'll miss ya.