‘… No! He is RISING!…’ Remembering Smokin’ Joe Frazier

For some reason, I can’t find the audio on the Joe Frazier story I heard this morning on NPR. I find a different (earlier, I think) version, but not the one that affected me so.

The closest I can come is to post the recording above. The relevant part is at 1:30.

The story played audio from a number of great Frazier fights, especially against Mohammed Ali. But the amazing thing happened with what NPR did with a clip from the 1973 fight with George Foreman (the grill guy, for you youngsters). They played a longer clip of it early in the report, and then, at the end, as music rises in the background, you hear Howard Cosell hoarsely screaming:

Frazier is down again, and he may be… No! He is rising

I had goosebumps. It was incredible. In that moment, Smokin’ Joe lived on…