DR. JEFF DANIELS
  • Home
  • About
  • Publications and Speaking
  • Contact
Digital Transformation | Leader | Professor

What I Learned from Smokin' Joe Frazier

11/8/2011

0 Comments

 
Picture
Legendary boxer Joe Frazier died at age 67.  NPR did a story on his life and career.  Smokin' Joe has some great lessons for us, for not only is he a boxer, he is a teacher.

Background
NPR reporter Tom Goldman writes, "A "sledgehammer left hook" that put Muhammad Ali on the canvas in 1971 pretty much tells the story of Joe Frazier's career."
"It was as crushing and symbolic" as any of Frazier's punches over his long career, Tom said on Morning Edition. "It put his bitter rival, Muhammad Ali, on his 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee' keister at Madison Square Garden in what came to be known as the "Fight of the Century."

But where did Frazier's dangerous left hook come from?  Joe was born into a poor sharecropping family in South Carolina.  When Frazier was about 8 years old, he "fashioned a punching bag out of a burlap sack stuffed with rags and corn cobs and Spanish moss. By Frazier's own estimation, he slugged that thing for the next six or seven years d@mn near every day."

Frazier's longtime friend Abraham Brown describes their youth in the documentary "Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears."  The two would put on gloves and go at it.  Brown says Frazier, "like to fight; he always liked to fight.  It was in him."

Goldman describes Frazier's distinctive fighting style  as  "bending at the waste, ducking under the opponents punches, all the while moving forward,  relentlessly forward, looking to throw those punches, fearsome punches.  Literally."

Boxing champion Larry Holmes, once Frazier's sparring partner admitted he was "scared as hell to work with Joe Frazier and to get hit by Joe Frazier."  Joe broke Larry's ribs during one sparring session.

The Lesson
Frazier is gone now, the great boxing champion lost his last battle to liver cancer.

Do what you were made to do. 
  • "It [boxing] is in him," said Frazier's childhood friend.
  • In the movie Chariots of Fire, Eric Lidell observed, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure. "       
Practice. 
  • The jarring left hook that won Frazier an Olympic gold medal and ultimately felled Ali was formed by years of hitting that burlap sack nearly every day.
  • Roger Bannister, the first runner to break the 4 minute mile once said, "The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win."
       
Pursue your passion.
  • Goldman's description of Frazier in the ring, "all the while moving forward,  relentlessly forward."
  • Keep moving towards your goal, relentless pursuit!
  • As the saying goes, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."
       
Posted in his Philadelphia gym, the Official Joe Frazier Creed reads,
"We sacrifice because when we give something up, something will come back; we are disciplined because without discipline there is nothing."

Additional reading:
Weird Facts about Smokin' Joe (Yahoo)
Boxer Joe Frazier, Who Beat Ali In The 'Fight Of The Century,' Has Died


0 Comments
    Picture

    Author

    Director
    @lockheedmartin
    | Professor
    @UMDGlobalCampus
    | 1st Cloud Dissertation | Top 5 #Thinkers360 #blockchain #cloud #iot #AI #AIEthics #digital #cyber #5g

    View my profile on LinkedIn
    Follow @jeffdaniels
    Tweets by jeffdaniels

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    December 2022
    August 2022
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    February 2020
    January 2019
    October 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011

    Categories

    All
    4h
    Acoustic
    Adele
    Adoption
    Aero
    Aerospace
    Airshow
    Alliance
    Architect
    Architecture
    Astronaut
    Augustine
    Bahill
    Book
    Books
    Boxing
    Budget
    Business
    Business Card
    Candidate
    Card
    Career
    Careerdevelopment
    Chan
    Chowder
    Cio
    Cities Names
    Clam
    Cloud
    Cloudcomputing
    Cnci
    College
    Computing
    Conference
    Connectivity
    Crowe
    Csedweek
    Cto
    Cyber
    Cybersecurity
    Deep Dive
    Defense
    Denise
    Dfw
    Digital
    Ebook
    Education
    Email
    Engineering
    Exploration
    Extreme
    F35
    Fall
    Fb
    Fedgov
    Fighter
    Flight
    Flighttest
    Florida
    Food
    Framework
    Frazier
    Get
    Gissing
    Glennis
    Google
    Haunted
    Hbr
    Heterogeneous
    History
    Homogeneous
    Horwath
    House
    Ideacast
    Identity
    Insiderhighered
    Internet
    Interview
    Joe
    Jsf
    Kindle
    Kindlefire
    Klout
    Kolditz
    Leadership
    Learning
    Linkedin
    Lm
    Martin
    Meeting
    Mentor
    Miracles
    Mit
    Mobile
    Monkey
    Mst3k
    Music
    Nasa
    Nascar
    Nelson
    Netflix
    Networking
    Nist
    Norm
    Orlando
    Phd
    Pictures
    Post
    Practice
    Process
    Pumpkin
    Put
    Quote
    Races
    Ragan
    Recipe
    Results
    Robots
    Role
    Rollinginthedeep
    Scary
    Search
    Security
    Servo
    Silence
    Simian
    Smokin
    Smoothie
    Snarky
    Socialnetwork
    Sound Barrier
    Space
    Speakup
    Spending
    Star
    Stem
    Sterman
    Strategy
    Success
    Systems
    Systemsengineering
    Teaching
    Teamtexas
    Techmgmt
    #techmgmt
    Techmgmt#
    #techmgt
    Technology
    Texas
    Tms
    Togaf
    Townhall
    Treat
    Trend
    Trust
    Tx
    Web
    Web2.0
    X1
    Yeager

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from europeanspaceagency, ▓▒░ TORLEY ░▒▓, Lori_NY, Dean_Groom, dalecruse, Fin Cosplay & Amigurumi, Iain Farrell, erin_everlasting, palindrome6996, Easa Shamih (eEko) | P.h.o.t.o.g.r.a.p.h.y, markhillary, Matt McGee, Marc_Smith, woodleywonderworks, agustilopez, rachel_titiriga, SeaDave, cheri lucas., Caio H. Nunes, grabbingsand, Armchair Aviator, quinn.anya, Jennifer Kumar, billaday, edtechworkshop, chucknado, purpleslog, yugenro, christianeager, dground, GlasgowAmateur, expertinfantry, OiMax
  • Home
  • About
  • Publications and Speaking
  • Contact