Stay in this business long enough and skepticism becomes your default mode. So, when it was announced that a new book on Joe Frazier was hitting the shelves, there was no way that Glenn Lewis’ Sparring with Smokin’ Joe was going to tell me anything new about the iconic former heavyweight champion.

Add in the tagline of “Joe Frazier's Epic Battles and Rivalry with Ali” for a book released a month before the 50th anniversary of Frazier’s first fight with Muhammad Ali, and this was going to be something to be forgotten as soon as the last page was read.

Boy, was I wrong.

Not only is Sparring with Smokin’ Joe one of the best books having to do with Frazier, and hence his trilogy with Ali, but one of the better boxing books of recent years, a testament to the reporting of Lewis, a director of journalism at York College and professor of print journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

More at https://www.boxingscene.com/glenn-lewis-talks-joe-fraziers-epic-battles-rivalry-with-ali--155689

Considered by many to be the best individual rivalry in all of sports, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought three legendary heavyweight boxing matches in the 1970's. Frazier won the first two in 1971's "Fight of the Century" when Ali first attempted to regain the heavyweight crown he had lost after refusing military service during the Vietnam War. Ali then won the next two, a dispute decision in 1974, then again in 1975 in the "Thrilla in Manila". This rivalry has been well documented, especially those accounts that concentrate on Ali. This book, written by Glenn Lewis, an author who spent much time with Frazier in 1980, is an attempt to share the story from the Frazier point of view.

This book is not a biography, as it does not describe Frazier's entire life and boxing career, nor can it really be considered even a book strictly about Joe Frazier as there is a lot of material about his son Marvis, who at the time was an up and coming amateur boxer. Having been denied a shot at boxing in the 1980 Olympics because of the boycott of those Games by the United States, Marvis was trying to decide between turning pro or going to college. The stories shared by Marvis about his father and Marvis' short professional career, which ended with a first-round loss to Mike Tyson, are excellent. These also give the reader a glimpse into a side of Joe Frazier that many may not know when he became Marvis' manager and, according to many including the author, was not Joe's best work.

While Marvis' stories do make up a bigger share of the book than expected, this doesn't mean the reader will be shortchanged on the stories that make up the subtitle of the book. Even if the chapter or section is not primarily about Joe Frazier's fights or rivalry with Ali, one does not have to look too far until someone mentions something about Joe either fighting Ali in the past or making a comeback to fight Ali - remember, this is set in 1980 when Ali fought Larry Holmes and Frazier was mulling a comeback, which he later did with a loss and a draw in his final fights. Whether Joe Frazier was training Marvis, performing with his band as he was a talented musician, or just talking to Lewis, Ali was never far from his mind. This is clearly evident when Joe speaks about the taunting by Ali, especially when it turned racial such as calling Frazier a gorilla, as Frazier is very angry about it and is still hurt by it years later. His memories of the fights are not quite as upsetting, even his two losses, as those stories make very good reading as well, whether they are from Frazier, another source or the author.

While the book is not a complete account of the most famous rivalry in boxing history, it does give a reader an excellent view of both Fraziers at that moment and is one that any fan of boxing in that era will want to read.

I wish to thank Rowman and Littlefield Publishers for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.