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Originally Posted by btcarfagno
He did treat Joe Frazier like shit for no reason other than to hype a fight, subjecting Frazier's family and children to death threats. Never did apologize to Frazier in person either. I always thought, personally, that this meant that deep down he may have actually believed the awful things that he said.
I am an Ali fan, so no disrespect meant. But the way that he treated Frazier has always given me some pause about Ali the person.
Tom C
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Hi Tom--here's when they made up and ali apologized...........
The wound to Frazier's psyche was deep. In the ensuing years, as Parkinson's syndrome limited Ali's speech and mobility, he has evolved into an almost saintly, ethereal force, the controversies of his past forgotten as his fame expanded and he raised millions of dollars for charity. But Frazier has searched for wider renown and struggled to shed his bitterness.
Last week on the anniversary of his victory over Ali at Madison Square Garden, Frazier said, "Hey, man, just come on and give me a hug and let's get on with our lives."
During an interview in a Midtown Manhattan hotel suite Wednesday, Ali said, "In a way, Joe's right. I said a lot of things in the heat of the moment that I shouldn't have said. Called him names I shouldn't have called him. I apologize for that. I'm sorry. It was all meant to promote the fight.
"I like Joe Frazier," Ali said. "Me and him was a good show. It was a good traveling show."
Frazier embraced the apology.
"I accept that," he said in a telephone interview from Wildwood, N.J. "I'll accept it, shake his hand and hug him when I see him. We're grown guys. Why we been biting off bullets? We have to embrace each other. It's time to talk and get together. Life's too short."