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A SKETCH OF JOE FRAZIER

On June 17, 1974, in his last fight against Jerry Quarry, Joe Frazier was devastating in his destruction of Jerry Quarry...There are also those, and the numbers could be well in the majority, who will tell you Joe Frazier defeated Muhammad Ali when they fought Super Fight II in Madison Square Garden on January 28, 1974...Muhammad got the decision and that's where it ended as far as Joe Frazier was concerned...When Joe Frazier was knocked out in two shocking rounds by George Foreman on January 22, 1973, he lost his world heavyweight championship...He neither cried nor alibied..."Those," he said, "are the risks of my profession." He did cry, however, when he lost Yancey "Tank" Durham in September of 1974.."He was my manager, trainer, friend and father," was the simple way he put it..."You can lose a fight and fight another day. How do you win back a Yank Durham?"...Eddie Futch, Yank's good friend and co-worker will be in Joe's corner from now on, as he has been in the past..." Yank and Eddie were a great team," added Joe..."It's a comfort to have Eddie with me."...Joe Frazier is an intense, proud, sensitive man...He will miss Yank Durham, in and out of the ring..But he's fighting because that's what he is--a fighter...He fights like he lives...Always moving...always forward...He has gained wealth and prestige but he has never forgotten his humble beginnings...Nor has he resented his early life filled with hard work and poverty...It was a way of life, and he often explains it--"Working for a white farmer in the fields of a 368 acre Brewton Plantation was a lot better than working indoors or as a laborer at the Coca Cola Bottling Plant...Shortly after he had whipped Muhammad Ali in Madison Square Garden for a purse of $2,500,000, Joe Frazier calmly plunked down a cheque for $157,500 and bought himself the Brewton Plantation in Beaufort County, S.C. 19 miles from the place of his birth...It was the fulfillment of another dream..The first, of course, was to be the next Joe Louis...Billy Joe Frazier was born on January 12, 1944, in Laurel Bay, a small black community where most of the population is descended from the slaves of another plantation...When ownership changed hands, slaves were included in bills of sale...Those who obtained freedom, remained where they were...There were four rooms in the Frazier house, put together out of assorted, stray pieces of lumber by Rubin Frazier, the champion's father, now dead...Joe was the youngest of 13 children, seven sons and six daughters...He began his active fistic dreams at the age of eight or nine by rigging up a burlap sack stuffed with moss and leaves as his first punching bag...He'd finished his work in the fields which sometimes lasted as many as 12 hours a day, and would then retire to his home-made gym with the flat assertion to all who would listen, "Don't bother me, I'm training to be another Joe Louis."...He grew strong and sturdy with a reputation of being a kid who never started fights but knew how to finish them...He quit Robert Small Hight after nine grades to drive a tractor on the farm and a year later, at 16 already a married man with the first of his five children, he followed some of his older brothers north to Philadelphia to pursue his dream of becoming another Joe Louis...He got a job as a meat cutter in a slaughterhouse but the transition found him weighing over 230 pounds...His next decision was his most fateful one...He dropped into Police Athletic League Gym at 23rd Street and Columbia to work off the fat and a supervisor pointed the "little fat boy" out to Yank Durham, a respected fight manager and trainer...Durham recalled the early Joe as a rough potential who wouldn't stop working..."Even when he cut a piece of finger off in the slaughterhouse, he wouldn't stop... He was always gashing himself but had a drive and a desire I've never seen in anybody else."...The relationship, obviously was lasting...Joe followed orders and Yank taught...Joe did his roadwork between 4.30 and 5.00 in the morning in North Philly and then reported to the butchering at the slaughter house at 7.00...

[[image- photograph of Joe Frazier's face in orange superimposed under the text]]

It was a gruelling schedule which was partly dictate by economy but there was never one complaint...He won the Golden Gloves titles in 1962, 1963, 1964, winning 38 of 40 fights and losing two, both to Buster Mathis...In the Olympic trials, Buster broke a knuckle and Joe went on to the finals in Tokyo...He scored three successive knockouts and then defeated Hans Huber of West Germany for America's only Gold Medal in boxing that year...It was later learned that he fought Huber despite a dislocated thumb he had suffered knocking out the Russian champion, Vadim Yemelyanov...The injury delayed Frazier's professional debut by ten months...He returned home form the Olympics with a medal but unable to work because of his injury...It looked like a bleak Christmas for the hero...Joe and his wife, Florence, now had three children...They had to eat...Local citizens launched a drive for presents for the kids and food for the house and offers to turn pro poured in...Joe, however, stuck with Yank Durham...It was Durham who bought Frazier together with the Rev. William H. Gray, pastor of the Bright Hope Baprist Church which both Frazier and Durham attended...They also got Dr. F. Bruce Baldwin, president of Abbott Dairies, and other prominent Philadelphians interested and involved...that was the birth of Cloverlay, Inc., the sponser of Frazier's career as a pro...There were 40 shareholders who paid $250 a share...A three-year contract was negotiated on December 15, 1965, and extended in August, 1967, for three more years (until 1971)..and again for another 3 years...A share in the growing fistic conglomerate grew to be worth more than $14,000 and the number of shareholders is over 500, from all walks of life...He made his pro debut on August 16, 1965, by knocking out Woody Goss in the first round and then went on to record ten more KO's before meeting brawny Argentine, Oscar Bonavena...Vonavena knocked him down twice in the second round, and third would have stopped the bout...But Frazier came off the deck and rallied to gain the decision going away...Another big win came in July, 1967, against George Chuvalo, the iron-chinned Canadian...He stopped Chuvalo in the 4th, a feat never before attained against the durable George...On March 4th, 1968, Frazier had Mathis back in the ring again, seeking revenge for the defeat in the Olympic Trials and also seeking recognition as Champion of the World...a title which had be declared open due the difficulties of Cassius Clay...Joe knocked out Mathis in the 11th...His hobbies are singing and his family...He is a soul rock fan and has also made a business out of it by forming a seven-piece combo, "The Knockouts"...He has also cut several records including "Truly, Truly Lovin' Me"; "The Bigger They Come, The Harder The Fall"; "Come And Get Me Love"; "If you Go, Stay Gone"; and a new one this year symbolically titled "Try It Again"...As for his family, he and the former Florence Smith now have five children--a son, Marvis, 12; and four daughters, Jacqualine, 11; Weatte, 9; Jo Netta, 5; and Natasha, 3...When he bought the Brewton Plantation, he wanted to burn down the old Laurel Bay place to the ground, but his mother, Miss Dolly, would not permit it...One of the brothers still lived in the old place...It was with some difficulty that Joe persuaded his mother, now 65, to move over to the Plantation...Miss Dolly moved but took with her all of her animals--a couple of dogs, a goat, a flock of chickens and some pigs...The pipe-smoking Miss Dolly also refuses to give up her own daily chores...The Brewton Plantation is Joe Frazier's repayment to his mother...He himself has a $400,000 house outside of Philadelphia, with a $17,000 swimming pool built in the shape of a boxing glove...He is more than just a man who was World Heavyweight Champion...He is an institution and an inspiration in Beaufort County for all the youngsters who now want to be "another Joe Frazier"...He's determined to win the title back--especially if his rival, Muhammad Ali, is the one he takes it from...But Joe knows he can't look past Ellis, always a dangerous foe who would also like another title crack.

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SKETCH OF JIMMY ELLIS

[[image-a photograph of Jimmy Ellis face in orange superimposed under the text]]

When Cassius Clay won the World Heavyweight Championship, his first purchase was a flashy red Cadillac convertible...When Jimmy Ellis won the World Boxing Association version of the World Heavyweight Championship, he bought himself a Chevrolet station wagon...That is not an economic comparison...That is Jimmy Ellis, born in in Louisville, Ky., on February 24th, 1940, son of Walter and Elizabeth Ellis,...At the time, Father Ellis was a construction worker...Now he is the assistant pastor at the Riverview Baptist Church...Jimmy is the middle child of nine in the Ellis family...He has six brothers and two sisters, some of whom are part of the Riverview Gospel Singers, who have toured Kentucky and neighboring states...Jimmy is a raspy but effective tenor but his poise overcomes an occasional loss of note...His wife, Mary Etta, is an alto...Jimmy attended Central High School until the 12th grade...He played basketball for the Hope Community Center...He also liked football and baseball and holds a 'hot stick' on the pool table...He has developed more recently as a bowler, averaging in the 170-180 class, and his first attempt at golf was a 75 on a nearby nine-hole course...He is also an avid coon hunter when he has time to spare...Mainly, he is a family man, He met his wife in junior high school and you could almost say that his boxing career began in Mary Etta's living room..."I was there watching television," Jimmy recalls..."There was a show called 'Tomorrow's Champions', and a friend of ours, Donny Hall, was fighting Cassius that night...Cassius won...So when we saw Donny later, I told him, 'Man, you sure did get a whippin." I could beat that guy.'...So Donny said to me, 'You think you're so smart. You come down the gym and we'll see.'"...Jimmy took up the challenge...He fought Clay twice in the amateurs...Clay won the first..."It was close," said Jimmy...In a rematch, it was Ellis who won..."He was easy that time."...Jimmy grew up through the weight ranks...He was a middleweight when he fought in the 1960 Olympics but lost to Skeeter McClure, who went on to win the Gold Medal...Ellis won 59 of 66 amateur fights...He was Chicago Gold Gloves champion in 1961 but lost to Jimmy Persol in the Inter-City finals that year...He later avenged it with a one-round knockout on the Clay-Folley card at the Garden..He fought as a middleweight too long, going through arduous tortures to make weight...When he moved up to heavyweights, as a solid 6-feet, 1-inches tall 190-pounder, he retained the tremendous speed that even Clay failed to cope with in training...He also retained his humility and his humor...It is strange that he gained his largest measure of fame, even today, as a sparing partner for Clay...But Ellis was never affected by Clay or Muhammad Ali..."The pay was good, I learned a lot and every time he fought, I fought."...Simplicity is a natural pattern for the Ellis family...He grew up in a house dominated by spiritual music and his father's dignity...It has stuck with Jimmy all the way...He has known poverty, including a stretch of construction work to feed his family and living in a $75 a month house with holes in the walls...Things are different today with a new home in Louisville's classy East End only a few blocks from Clay's parents...Affluence has not changed his routines of training and leisure...He trains religiously and plays simply at his hobbies and where he can include members of his family, he does...He is quite proud of youngest brother, Charles, who was on the same Olympic team with Clay in 1964 and lost early in the junior welterweight eliminations...The Ellises have six children--Jamesetta, 16; James Jr., 14; Inez, 12; Mary 11; Sonya, and Jeffrey, 7;...The children are often with the parents when they are off on a signing jaunt and sometimes at ringside when Jimmy fights...Mary Etta Ellis is an avid fight fan...Jamesetta was originally James...Jimmy just called the wrong sex when the first-born was on its way...He is frugal...He won $100 for being the best in a baseball hitting contest in the Astrodome...Jimmy handed $20 to each of his sparring partners and bought manager-trainer Angelo Dundee four cigars...He bought Dundee a whole box when he won the WBA title by beating Jerry Quarry on April 27, 1968...His fight with Floyd Patterson in Sweden on September 14, 1968, is a sore spot...He thought he won it clearly...He also suffered a broken nose in that fight and it kept him out of action for 17 months...The television showing of that fight and the commentary made it a controversy and it has rankled him ever since...It was his misfortune to return to action after his long layoff in the fight with Joe Frazier on February 16, 1970..."I'm not alibiing that fight. It was the one thing I'd wanted and when the chance came I grabbed it. I should have had a couple of tune ups but there was no time. I weighted too much (198). I was slow but Frazier nailed me good with a left hook. He won and I lost."...Ellis could have been 100 to 1 to win the 8-man elimination tournament that led him to the WBA title...That's when he hoped they'd stop calling him Clay's sparring partner..."It's tough going through life with a tag."...Jimmy has always felt he could have beaten Frazier, and now he has the chance to prove it...'Stylewise, I can give him a lot of trouble," he says...a statement he backed up by giving Frazier fits for thee rounds in their first meeting...'I'll be in shape for this one--a win means another shot at Ali," concludes Ellis.

[[image - a black and white photograph of Jimmy Ellis, fists up, ready to hit a GYRO Balanced speed bag]]