Joe Frazier once revealed who he believed was the greatest heavyweight to have ever graced the sport.
Frazier had outstanding success throughout the course of his own professional career, establishing himself as one of the best heavyweights of his entire generation along the way.
The South Carolina-native reigned as the undisputed heavyweight champion for several years between 1970 and 1973, making four successful defences of his crown before he was beaten by George Foreman.
Frazier handed Muhammad Ali the first defeat of his professional career when they clashed in New York City in March of 1971, although ‘Smokin Joe’ would fall short to his countryman in their second and third encounters down the line.
Speaking in a resurfaced interview, Frazier made no mistake in naming Joe Louis as the greatest heavyweight of all time in his opinion, overlooking former rival Ali who many actually consider to be ‘The Greatest’.
“Joe Louis is the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. Rocky Marciano is second only to Louis. Where do I rate Ali? Somewhere below me. I beat him, and if I could beat him, no doubt Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano could have beaten him.”
Louis reigned as the world heavyweight champion for an impressive 12 years between 1937 and 1949. He made no less than 25 successful defences of his crown during this period, a record for all weight classes that remains unbroken to this very day.
‘The Brown Bomber’ shared the ring with a number of legendary fighters from that era, including Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Tommy Farr and Rocky Marciano.
