Word: loudmouths
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...fight has become a classic in an other way. Shrewd prefight publicity has turned the billing into Frazier the good citizen v. Ali the draft dodger, Frazier the white man's champ v. Ali the great black hope, Frazier the quiet loner v. Ali the irrepressible loudmouth, Frazier the simple Bible-reading Baptist v. Ali the slogan-spouting Black Muslim. Frazier, who is generally as impassive as a ring post, would have it otherwise, but he has no choice...
First he was Cassius Clay, the lovable loudmouth who was going to "whup the world." Next he was the mysterious Muhammad Ali, spouting Black Muslim rhetoric. Then, slapped with a draft-evasion conviction and stripped of his title, he became the self-styled "champion of the people," a martyr to the black cause. Last week, 3½ years after his last professional fight, he was Cassius Clay again -at least in the ring where, shuffling, stabbing and slugging as of old, he pummeled Irishman Jerry Quarry into swift and violent submission...
Even at Leavenworth. Nonsense or not, the presence of "the loudmouth," as he calls him, bugs Frazier. At 26, Joe is just two years younger than the champion-in-exile, and he knows that not until he defeats Ali in the ring can he completely shuck the "fake champ" label. Frazier's manager. Yancey Durham, has always told him: "Every time you're fighting, you got to think you're in there with Clay." Repeatedly asked about the former champ, whose conviction is currently under appeal, Frazier says: "I'd love to fight Clay, even...