"Kram...writes with the intensity that Frazier fought with...Unlike his subject, Kram knows when to take a step back and reflect, revealing a Frazier far removed from the enduring portrayal of him as 'an angry and unforgiving man so incapable of letting go of the hatred he harbored for Ali.'"
A revelation, a powerhouse, a thing of beauty, and—OK, I’ll say it—a knockout. Joe Frazier is one of the most compelling figures ever to step in a boxing ring, and Mark Kram, Jr. has written a biography worthy in every way of the champ’s greatness.
A revelation, a powerhouse, a thing of beauty, and—OK, I’ll say it—a knockout. Joe Frazier is one of the most compelling figures ever to step in a boxing ring, and Mark Kram, Jr. has written a biography worthy in every way of the champ’s greatness.” — Jonathan Eig, bestselling author of Ali: A Life
“Mark Kram, Jr. much, much more than splendidly gets to the strange anomaly that was Smokin’ Joe: you’d have thought the guy didn’t get no respect. Only he did. Lots...His life is a story worth reading.” — Richard Ford
“Mark Kram, Jr.’s sympathetic and thoroughly researched Smokin’ Joe is a worthy introduction to an under-appreciated American athlete.” — Joyce Carol Oates
“An exquisite biography that depicts Frazier as he really was: not just fearless and ferocious but soulful, compassionate, loyal, impulsive, capable of powerful hatred and even more powerful love. You can feel the gospel truth of Smokin’ Joe deep in your bones.” — John Schulian, winner of the PEN/ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing
“Mark Kram Jr.’s landmark book about Joe Frazier...at last remedies a grave wrong, lifting the indomitable Frazier out of the crypt of creeping obscurity and into the exalted place he deserves in America’s annals...[A] sublime exploration.” — Michael Leahy, aof the Casey Award-winning The Last Innocents: The Collision of the Turbulent Sixties and the Los Angeles Dodgers
“Bookish fans of the sweet science will flock to this biography.” — Kirkus Reviews
“A comprehensive knockout of a biography...[A] beautiful book.” — Wall Street Journal
"Kram...writes with the intensity that Frazier fought with...Unlike his subject, Kram knows when to take a step back and reflect, revealing a Frazier far removed from the enduring portrayal of him as 'an angry and unforgiving man so incapable of letting go of the hatred he harbored for Ali.'" — The National Book Review
Mark Kram Jr.’s landmark book about Joe Frazier...at last remedies a grave wrong, lifting the indomitable Frazier out of the crypt of creeping obscurity and into the exalted place he deserves in America’s annals...[A] sublime exploration.
A comprehensive knockout of a biography...[A] beautiful book.”
An exquisite biography that depicts Frazier as he really was: not just fearless and ferocious but soulful, compassionate, loyal, impulsive, capable of powerful hatred and even more powerful love. You can feel the gospel truth of Smokin’ Joe deep in your bones.
Mark Kram, Jr.’s sympathetic and thoroughly researched Smokin’ Joe is a worthy introduction to an under-appreciated American athlete.
A comprehensive knockout of a biography...[A] beautiful book.”
2019-03-03
A spirited biography of the thunder-punching boxer.
Former Philadelphia Daily News sportswriter Kram Jr. (Like Any Normal Day: A Story of Devotion, 2012) picks up where his late father left off with his reporting for Sports Illustrated on the long feud between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier (1944-2011), particularly as played out in 1975 in a celebrated match, the "Thrilla in Manila." As the story opens, Frazier—called "Smokin' Joe" after promising the press corps that he would "come out smokin' " in a 1967 prizefight—is in a reflective mood, surprisingly gentle for someone reputed to be so fierce. Yet Frazier earned every bit of that reputation: "His way was the hard way," writes the author. "In the ring, he lived and died by the simple yet daring principle of engagement that in order to deliver one bone-crunching blow, it was too frequently necessary to absorb three in exchange." Absorb the blows he did, while pounding just about everyone who came up against him, including Rocky-era Sylvester Stallone, who recalls "a thunderous left hook that was planted extremely deep in my body." The author speculates that Frazier, who died in 2011 with no autopsy, may have been finally felled by chronic traumatic encephalopathy following years of concussive blows. The author covers all the bases while focusing, appropriately, on the long enmity between Frazier and Ali, who called the younger boxer a "gorilla" and played mind games, race cards, and all sorts of mischief, later claiming that he did it to stir up attention and sales at the box office. Frazier was thought never to have forgiven Ali for the barrage of insults, but the closing of the narrative finds the two boxers in a tender moment, albeit one that might have blown apart had the two been their younger, healthier selves. The narrative is sometimes by-the-numbers, but Kram pays appropriate homage to a fighter who, though lacking in finesse, dominated heavyweight boxing for nearly a decade.
Bookish fans of the sweet science will flock to this biography.