Don't believe the hype. It wasn't a real beef. Even Joe's "insensitive" comments decades later were all promotional. They both ate for years off of it.
And Ali didn't have it easy coming up in Kentucky buddy.
But Joe was the man. He gave Ali the toughest fight of his career in Manila. Beat him on another occasion too.
The fight style was indeed OG. Joe made the left hook the preferred punch in the hood.
1. t's not a game man. Joe really hated the nikka. He was blind as fukk , exhausted, beat up bad wanting to go one more round with Ali because he hated him.
In the 1970's another supposedly pro-black man calling you an uncle tom, ignorant, gorilla, stupid, ugly, making fun of his facial features like a white man would isn't some shyt you would do for promo. Especially when you're painted as a the "white folks champion" when you've spent your whole life being a real nikka.
2. No black person had it easy in those days but comparatively Ali had a much better upbringing and had it better than most blacks. Read Ali's book - he was raised "black middle class".. He had more support than Joe growing up to follow his dreams. Being black middle class helped Ali understand the world better and its racial hypocrisies due to his environment and education.
By 13 Ali was an established junior amateur fighter. Joe Frazier was helping his 1 armed father on a farm on owned by cacs, doing the job of a grown man on some field nikka tip. Knowing he could kill the CAC with his hands he didn't take their shyt either and he had to leave before them CAC boys in white hoods would turn up. At 15 he packed up and went up North. 15!
Neither had it easy.. of course not. But comparatively Joe had it much harder.
