Mumbai Fighters Technical Director, Joe Clough, was head coach for the Muhammad Ali Boxing Club in Santa Monica from 1979 for a year but was a Joe Frazier fan.
“Everybody really loved Joe Frazier a lot. He was like a one-hand fighter. The left hook and the jab… left hook and jab. That was the style he won a lot of fights with,” said the American.
“On my desk I have a picture of Frazier and four of my boxers. He was training in Seattle when the pictures were taken. I saw those images on Facebook today.”
Named the US National AAU Amateur ‘Coach of the Year' in 1972, 1976 and 1977, Clough feels that Frazier is more than just a famous name in boxing.
“He had a gym in Philadelphia where some of my boxers went and trained. I had a few professionals training there. Nice gym, good atmosphere for the talented kids from a poor area. When I was young, I really liked Ali, but bet on Frazier and even won some money,” said the American.
Clough adds: “I coached against Frazier. I was part of Team Ali (Muhammad Ali Amateur Boxing Club) against Team Frazier (Joe Frazier Amateur Boxing Club). One match in Houston went down to the last bout, between heavyweights Tony Tubbs and Marvis Frazier, Joe's son. We won the bout and the match.”
Talking about the difficulty Marvis faced living up to his father's name, Clough says: “Sons need not always become as good as their father. It happened with Marvis, but nothing new in sport.”
