Word: frazier
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...trying to tell him how much time has gone by, Joe's old trainer, Eddie Futch, is no longer his trainer. Futch-not Frazier, not the referee, not Muhammad Ali-stopped the "Thrilla in Manila" in 1975 with a round to go. "Sit down, son; it's all over," Eddie said softly after the devastating 14th round, and put his hand on Joe's shoulder. "No one will ever forget what you did here today...
...this day, Joe is late arriving for work at the gym. He is wrapping his own hands hurriedly. "Eddie? I don't miss Eddie. I don't miss anybody who don't miss me," says Frazier, not unkindly, not really. "Yank died [Yank Durham, Frazier's first trainer as a pro]. I didn't miss Yank...
...voice there is a scratch that shows clearly. "Speech is the most recognizable sign," says Dr. Ferdie Pacheco, once Muhammad's personal physician, no longer in his corner. "Does Muhammad Ali speak today as he spoke in 1971 [the year of the first of the three Ali-Frazier wars]? Listen to Ali yourself and hear the dramatic and sad slowing of Ali's speech, slurring of his words, slowing of his mental processes...
...Frazier can still shake the building. When he spars with his sons, Marvis and Hector, he looks old and slow. Like a gingerbread man, he has plumped out (to 229 lbs.). But the whomp he fetches the big bag can still tingle a spine. "At all times," he instructs the boys gently, "try to take their heads...
Gentleness and cruelty get mixed up easily in boxing. Frazier has always been a primitive, without a great deal of art, just a great deal of courage. He fought, as they say, with his face. But he is not insensitive to all pain, only to physical pain...