The Fights Page 76 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
It Takes A Nickel On The Ground To End A Michael Spinks Interview: A Vignette From Joe Frazier's "Homegoing Ceremony"
I spent a lot of time this past week covering the public outpouring of love and respect in Philly for Smokin' Joe Frazier, the first guy to—as one preacher put it at yesterday's "Homegoing Ceremony"—"put [Muhammad] Ali on his ass." This, while Ali sat near the front of a behemoth church that holds ...
Dos Santos Wins, Mainstream Fails To Care
I'd planned to write something about the Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos fight today. But the fight lasted all of 64 seconds. Gotta feel for anyone who sat through eons of buildup only to make for the suds and miss the action. The UFC's debut on Fox was a flop. A disappointment on a grand sca...
A Big Arena's Small Memorial For Joe Frazier
Hickey attended Joe Frazier's memorial: "What they, and hundreds of others who attended the first of three local memorial services for the former heavyweight champion of the world, would see inside was a simple display. No frills. Just like the man who'd requested a closed-casket viewing led his lif...
Mike Tyson Thinks Heavyweight Boxing Will Someday Return To Its Ali-Frazier Peak
Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: optimism from Iron Mike....
How The Media Keep Getting Joe Frazier Wrong
Lawdy, lawdy Bob Lipsyte is great: "This glorification of Smokin' Joe actually began several years ago with documentaries and books that used him as a vehicle—not always unjustified—for attacking Ali. Once again, Joe was the opponent, not the headliner. Those who reviled Ali as the symbolic hero of ...
Self-Proclaimed World Champion Gets His Ass Handed To Him By 61-Year-Old Floyd Mayweather Sr.
Charlie Zelenoff is an internet legend. An unstable, unemployed Californian, he has spent the last few years living the online persona of an undefeated boxer. He's made fake belts for himself, refers to fights against heavyweight champions that never actually happened, and most hilariously, "edited"...
George Foreman Says Frazier And Ali "Genuinely Loved Each Other"
Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: Foreman eulogizes a foe and friend....
What It's Like To Fight Manny Pacquiao From A Fighter's Perspective
Manny Pacquiao will fight Juan Manuel Marquez for the third time this Saturday. Everyone likes Paquiao in the fight, including other boxers. He's too fast, too powerful, too accurate, too everything. David Diaz fought Pacquiao on June 28, 2008. He got TKO'd in the ninth. Here's Diaz telling Eric Ras...
Paper Illustrates Joe Frazier Tribute With Massive Photo Of George Foreman
The South China Morning Post, Hong Kong's largest English-language newspaper, wasn't able to run its Joe Frazier tribute until today. All that lead-up wasn't enough time for someone who knows what Joe Frazier looks like to proof the pages....
Bernard Hopkins Has The Same Respect For Smokin' Joe Frazier That Catholics Do For The Pope
Yesterday, I spoke with Bernard Hopkins a few hours before it was announced that legendary Philadelphia boxer Joe Frazier had died of liver cancer. The entire interview is contained in that video link above. To hear excerpts of it, you can get them via this link....
The Great Long Pieces You Should Be Reading About The Late, Great Joe Frazier And His Contemporaries
Byliner has compiled a list of 13 great long boxing reads, many of which feature Smokin' Joe. Read all your homeboys: Norman Mailer, Gary Smith, David Remnick, Pete Hamill, and, uh, Wright Thompson, too. Get there!...
What Do Usain Bolt And Juan Manuel Marquez Have In Common? They Train With The Same Admitted Steroids Dealer
On Saturday, Juan Manuel Marquez will step into the ring for a third time against Manny Pacquiao. This time around, Marquez—who's moving up in weight for the fight—has a new physique. He has retained the services of Angel Hernandez, the strength and conditioning coach who has been working with Jamai...
Taps For Joe Frazier
Your morning roundup for Nov. 8, the day we learned the value of a scoop. Photo by John Shearer for Life Magazine. For more Ali-Frazier photos, click here. Got any stories or photos for us? Tip your editors....
Now's A Good Time To Watch Ali-Frazier I, The Fight Of The Century, In Its Entirety On YouTube
This 1971 slugfest, unlike LSU-Alabama this weekend, lived up to its promotional nickname....
Smokin' Joe Frazier Is Dead
The legendary fighter died today of liver cancer at age 67....
Andrei Arlovski Hasn't Knocked Out A Top Fighter In Years, But Good Lord Did He Knock Out This Guy
There was a time when Andrei Arlovski stirred fear in the hearts of other heavyweight fighters. That time was in 2005, before the world discovered that Arlovski's jaw had the consistency of a tortilla chip. A few years later, Arlovski suffered several hideous knockouts, the kind where you'd litera...
Joe Frazier Is Not Dead Yet, Despite One Australian Paper Desperate For A Scoop
As tends to happen when famous people are very ill (and even when they're not), Twitter killed Joe Frazier last night. It just takes one person jumping the gun, or one person misinterpreting another's tribute. A retweet here, a failure to wait for a legitimate source there, and the deed is done. The...
Smokin' Joe Frazier Is Critically Ill
Deadspin's own Brian Hickey checks in with a report from Frazier's business manager and friend, Les Wolff, who says the fighter's bout against liver cancer may be nearing an end....
The Death Of A Former Football Player At An Underground Fight In A Church Has, Somehow, Resulted In A Lawsuit
The church along the Broken Arrow Expressway in Tulsa is of the Christian-capitalist mega-variety. You know the deal: rock shows, slick website, a gift shop, deadly unsanctioned boxing fights. One such fight on Sept. 21, 2011, allegedly resulted in the death of George Clinkscale, who played lineback...
Floyd Mayweather Isn't Ducking Manny Pacquaio; He's Being Persecuted, Or Something
Floyd Mayweather Jr. didn't take too kindly to Sirius radio host Rude Jude's accusation that he's afraid to fight Manny Pacquiao. So Mayweather decided to call Jude's show yesterday, at the urging of 50 Cent, and you can listen to the audio above. Mayweather never directly addresses the issue at h...