Following the death of Joe Frazier this week, our Angus reporter Graeme Strachan looks back at an evening spent in the company of the boxing legend.
A larger-than-life character, ”Smokin” Joe Frazier walked out to meet me like he was gearing up for another legendary duel with Ali.
He came out shadow boxing in a pork pie hat with an unblinking stare before breaking into a big smile and offering a handshake.
Smokin’ Joe looked like he could still do a job in the ring as our paths crossed that night at the Hilton Hotel in Dundee in 2008.
Frazier was speaking with former WBC supermiddleweight champion Richie Woodhall at a black-tie event and took time out to be interviewed.
The former heavyweight boxing champion and International Boxing Hall of Fame member was clearly moved by the reception he’d been given earlier in the evening.
”They are good people,” Frazier told me. ”I love the people in Dundee I’m from a large family and it’s like being home.
”If they could provide me with a job I’d be here tomorrow. I’d need a gym what else would I need? A bigger Bentley!”
Frazier was funny and refreshingly down to earth during our interview.
He did need a little help to recall some of the memories of his great career however due, in part, one would assume, to his ring wars with Muhammad Ali, which took their toll.
The pair’s three legendary duels between 1971 and 1975 are the most famous in boxing history.
I could remember the Thriller in Manila but it was only after meeting Frazier that I got the chance to see the fight in full.
It was as brilliant as it was brutal with Ali admitting he felt ‘near death’ at the end of a fight which he won by TKO in the 14th round.
In a brief post-fight interview with one of the commentators, Ali announced: ”He is the greatest fighter of all times, next to me.”
Frazier told me he was asked about the Thriller In Manila above all other fights.
”I think they ask about it because it was such a tough fight,” added Frazier.
Frazier won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964 eight years after Dundee’s Dick McTaggart took gold in Melbourne.
They both competed at the 1964 games, but at different weights, and McTaggart’s name had come up during the dinner.
Frazier said he respected McTaggart and also spoke about his own Olympic success in 64.