PHILADELPHIA — With his championship belt and a pair of gloves draped over his casket, Joe Frazier was going one more round. The Rev. Jesse Jackson asked mourners to rise, and for one last time “show your love” for the former heavyweight champion.
Wearing a dark suit and sunglasses, a frail and trembling Muhammad Ali rose and vigorously clapped for “Smokin’ Joe,” the fighter who handed Ali his first loss. Ali was among the nearly 4,000 people who packed the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church on Monday for a two-hour celebration of Frazier’s life. Frazier died last week of liver cancer at age 67. Also attending were former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes and promoter Don King.
Jackson delivered a stirring eulogy, describing Frazier as someone who “came from segregation, degradation and disgrace to amazing grace.” “Tell them Rocky was not a champion. Jose Frazier was,” he said, referring to the hometown character from the boxing movie, “Rocky,” and whose statue stands at the base of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “Tell them Rocky is fictitious, Joe was reality. . . . Champions are made in the ring, not in the movies. There deserves to be a statue of Joe Frazier in downtown Philadelphia.”
The Associated Press
