Joe Frazier has liver cancer

Former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier has liver cancer and is under hospice care.

The 67-year-old boxer was diagnosed four or five weeks ago, Frazier's personal and business manager said Saturday. Leslie Wolff told The Associated Press that doctors have not yet told Frazier how long he has to live.

''We have medical experts looking into the all the options that are out there,'' Wolff said. ''There are very few. But that doesn't mean we're going to stop looking.''

Wolff, who has been Frazier's manager for seven years, said the boxer had been in out and out of the hospital since early October and receiving hospice treatment the last week.

''We appreciate every prayer we can get,'' Wolff said. ''I've got everybody praying for him. We''ll just keep our fingers crossed and hope for a miracle.''

Frazier's illness was first reported by the New York Post, citing an unidentified. source.

Frazier was the first man to beat Muhammad Ali, knocking him down and taking a decision in the so-called Fight of the Century in 1971. He would go on to lose two more fights to Ali, including the epic ''Thrilla in Manila'' bout.

Frazier was bitter for many years about the way Ali treated him then. More recently, he said he had forgiven Ali for repeatedly taunting him.

Smokin' Joe was a small yet ferocious fighter who smothered his opponents with punches, including a devastating left hook he used to end many of his fights early. It was the left hook that dropped Ali in the 15th round of their ''Fight of the Century'' at Madison Square Garden in 1971 to seal a win in a bout where each fighter earned an unheard of $2.5 million.

While that fight is celebrated in boxing lore, Ali and Frazier put on an even better show in their third fight, held in a sweltering arena in Manila as part of Ali's world tour of fights in 1975. Nearly blinded by Ali's punches, Frazier still wanted to go out for the 15th round of the fight but was held back by trainer Eddie Futch in a bout Ali would later say was the closest thing to death he could imagine.

Frazier won the heavyweight title in 1970 by stopping Jimmy Ellis in the fifth round of their fight at Madison Square Garden. He defended it successfully four times before George Foreman knocked him down six times in the first two rounds to take the title from him in 1973.

Frazier would never be heavyweight champion again.

In recent years, Frazier had been doing regular autograph appearances, including one in Las Vegas the weekend of a Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight in September.

Joe Frazier, one of the biggest sports icons of the 1960s and 70s, passed away tonight from liver cancer at the age of 67. He was diagnosed less than six weeks ago and spent his final days in a Philadelphia-area hospice.
His family released this statement:
"We The Family of the 1964 Olympic Boxing Heavyweight Gold Medalist, Former Heavyweight Boxing Champion and International Boxing Hall of Fame Member Smokin' Joe Frazier, regrets to inform you of his passing. He transitioned from this life as "One of God's Men," on the eve of November 7, 2011at his home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We thank you for your prayers for our Father and vast outpouring of love and support.
Respectfully, we request time to grieve privately as a family. Our father's home going celebration will be announced as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding."
In the weeks before his death, Frazier was said to have lost 50 pounds. Friends like Rev. Jesse Jackson and fellow heavyweight king Larry Holmes requested visits, but Frazier decided against it.
"Joe doesn't want to see anybody, the way he is now," his manager Les Wolff explained earlier this week. "I think you can understand why. He's a proud man."
Frazier's legacy is etched in stone as part of the greatest individual rivalry in sports history. The stocky, less-than-graceful Frazier was the perfect foil for the elegant and athletic Muhammad Ali.
Their trilogy, contested between 1971-75, tops everything else in boxing's long history. Frazier was the first person to defeat Ali.
Outside the ring, Frazier was helpless in the p.r. battle against the loquacious and charismatic Ali. Ali made it personal before their first meeting in 1971 calling the quiet Frazier an "Uncle Tom."
Both unbeaten, Frazier met Ali in New York City's Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971 and got his revenge on Ali's trash talk by winning "The Fight of the Century" via unanimous decision. He cemented the victory by flooring Ali with a leaping left hook, his trademark punch, in the 15th round.
[Photos: Remembering 'Smokin' Joe Frazier]
To illustrate the lack of respect Frazier received from some, veteran boxing writer Jerry Izenberg told the story of the fighter greeting some kids on the streets of his adopted hometown of North Philadelphia a week after the biggest victory of his career.
[...] Joe told them: "Now y'all stay in school. Don't make me have to find you."
Two of them laughed, but the third one said:
"My daddy says Muhammad Ali was drugged,"
In that instant a cold, cold mask seemed to slide across the champion's face. "'Yeah ... yeah," Joe said, "I drugged him with a left hook." And they saw the look in his eyes and all three of them ran away.
Frazier turned to me and said:
"You heard that. What I got to do? What the hell I got to do?"
There was nothing he could do. Frazier, a reserved gentleman, was never going to win a trash talk battle against Ali. Ali went on to win the 1972 rematch against Frazier, again at MSG.
The third fight in the Philippines, "The Thrilla in Manila" trumped the first two. The back-and-forth battle, ended after 14 rounds because Frazier's eyes were nearly swollen shut. His trainer, Eddie Futch, argued with his fighter before calling it a night. On a night with the temperature in Manila hovered around 100 degrees, rounds 13 and 14 were grueling. Both fighters were completely exhausted, but still wailed away at each other.
[Obituary: Joe Frazier, 67, dies from liver cancer]
Frazier fought just two more times. He lost badly to George Foreman in 1976 and fought to a draw during a short-lived comeback in 1981.
Frazier, the son of Rubin and Dolly Frazier. was born in the poor town of Beaufort, S.C. He was the youngest of 12 children. He relocated to Philadelphia as a teenager.
While working in a slaughterhouse, Frazier began to take boxing seriously. By the time he was 20, Frazier was one of the elite heavyweight prospects in the world. He stormed to the Olympic heavyweight gold medal in 1964 in Tokyo. Six years later, he was the king of the heavyweight division, winning the WBA belt with a fifth-round TKO stoppage of Jimmy Ellis.
Frazier was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He finished his brilliant career with professional record of 32-4-1, with 27 wins by knockout.
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