"Heavyweight Champion" Joe Frazier Hand Signed 2.25X5 Card Todd Mueller COA

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"Heavyweight Champion" Joe Frazier Hand Signed 2.25X5 Card.
This item is authenticated By Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their certificate of authenticity.
ES-7112
Joseph William Frazier
(January 12, 1944 – November 7, 2011), nicknamed "
Smokin' Joe
", was an American
professional boxer
who competed from 1965 to 1981. He was known for his strength, durability, formidable punching power, and relentless
pressure fighting
style and was the first boxer to beat
Muhammad Ali
. Frazier reigned as the
undisputed
heavyweight
champion from 1970 to 1973 and as an
amateur
won a gold medal at the
1964 Summer Olympics
. Frazier emerged as the top contender in the late 1960s, defeating opponents that included
Jerry Quarry
,
Oscar Bonavena
,
Buster Mathis
,
Eddie Machen
,
Doug Jones
,
George Chuvalo
, and
Jimmy Ellis
en route to becoming undisputed heavyweight champion in 1970, and he followed up by defeating Ali by unanimous decision in the highly anticipated
Fight of the Century
in 1971. Two years later, Frazier lost his title to
George Foreman
. Frazier fought on and beat
Joe Bugner
, lost a
rematch to Ali
, and beat Quarry and Ellis again. Frazier's last world title challenge came in 1975, but he was beaten by Ali in the brutal
rubber match
, the
Thrilla in Manila
. Frazier retired in 1976 after a second loss to Foreman but made a comeback in 1981. He fought just once before retiring for good, finishing his career with a record of 32 wins, 4 losses, and 1 draw. The International Boxing Research Organization rates Frazier among the ten greatest heavyweights of all time.
The Ring
magazine
named him
Fighter of the Year
in 1967, 1970, and 1971, and the
Boxing Writers Association of America
(BWAA) named him
Fighter of the Year
in 1969, 1971, and 1975. In 1999,
The Ring
ranked him the eighth greatest heavyweight.
[3]
He is an inductee of both the
International Boxing Hall of Fame
and the World Boxing Hall of Fame, having been a part of the inaugural induction class of 1990 for the IBHF. His style was often compared with that of
Henry Armstrong
and occasionally
Rocky Marciano
and was dependent on bobbing, weaving, and relentless pressure to wear down his opponents. His best-known punch was a powerful left
hook
, which accounted for most of his knockouts. In his career, he lost to only two fighters, both former Olympic and world heavyweight champions: twice to Muhammad Ali and twice to George Foreman.After retiring, Frazier made cameo appearances in several Hollywood movies and two episodes of
The Simpsons
. His son
Marvis
became a boxer and was trained by Joe Frazier himself. Marvis lost a title shot to heavyweight champion
Larry Holmes
in 1983 and was knocked out in the first round by an up-and-coming
Mike Tyson
in 1986. Marvis ended his career with a record of 19 wins and those 2 losses. Frazier's daughter
Jacqui Frazier-Lyde
also boxed professionally and is a former
WIBA
world
light-heavyweight
champion who ended her career with a record of 13 wins and 1 loss, with her sole loss coming in a majority-decision-points loss to
Laila Ali
, Ali's daughter, in a fight dubbed as "Ali–Frazier IV". Frazier continued to train fighters in his gym in Philadelphia. His attitude towards Ali in later life was largely characterized by bitterness and contempt but was interspersed with brief reconciliations. Frazier was diagnosed with
liver cancer
in late September 2011 and admitted to
hospice
care. He died of complications from the disease on November 7, 2011.