MANILA, Philippines—The boxing-mad Philippines mourned Tuesday the death of US great Joe Frazier, with fans hailing his epic “Thrilla in Manila” battle with Muhammad Ali as an inspiration for a generation of local champions.
Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines executive director Ed Picson recalled being a young man who went to have his picture taken with Frazier ahead of the famous 1975 bout, even though he was cheering for Ali.
“He (Frazier) was a very tenacious and a very courageous fighter,” said Picson, who said he watched on television as Ali prevailed by technical knockout after 14 brutal rounds in which Frazier’s right eye swelled shut.
“Joe Frazier was obviously a fighter who would not give up, even when his corner was trying to get him to quit. He just kept barrelling through and taking everything that Ali could dish out,” Picson told Agence France-Presse.
Philippine Daily Inquirer sports columnist Recah Trinidad, who had covered the famous fight in the nation’s capital for another publication, remembered a bout of galactic proportions.
“It was a war of the worlds, of planets colliding, with Frazier providing most of the blood,” Trinidad told AFP.
“Ali would not have been the greatest fighter of all without Frazier.”
Veteran Manila sports reporter Ignacio Dee said he was in fourth year at a local Catholic school when Ali and Frazier came to town for what has been described as one of the greatest boxing matches of all time.
“Somebody managed to rig up a black-and-white television and we watched the fight in the classroom,” Dee said.
He said the most electric part of the fight for him was when Frazier staggered Ali with his trademark left hook in the sixth round, after which Ali seemed to be on the ropes before Frazier tired and slowed in the later rounds.
“When Ali and Frazier came here they were demigods,” Dee said. “They inspired a new generation of boxers in the Philippines.”
The Philippines has produced a steady stream of world boxing champions in the lower weight divisions for decades, with Manny Pacquiao the best and most famous of them.
Pacquiao, currently rated the world’s best “pound-for-pound” fighter, also praised Frazier’s after arriving Monday night in Las Vegas for his title fight against Juan Manuel Marquez.
“Boxing lost a great champion, and the sport lost a great ambassador,” Pacquiao said. “My prayers go out to his family.”
Frazier died on Monday in the United States after a brief battle with cancer. He was 67.
Source: http://sports.inquirer.net/23693/philippines-mourns-brave-frazier
