In this fascinating account . . . Lewis charts Frazier’s rise from southern farm boy to 1964 Olympic heavyweight boxing champion, and argues that the Frazier-Ali rivalry that followed was arguably “the greatest individual rivalry in all of sports.” . . . Lewis’s access to Frazier’s family, meanwhile, offers insight into the fighter’s personal life and his influence on his son . . . Lewis brings a painstaking level of detail to his breakdown of the famous rivalry. This is a knockout.
— Publishers Weekly
There is no shortage of material in boxing literature about the epic rivalry of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, but most of those accounts center on Ali. This compelling blend of reportage and narrative nonfiction changes the focus to Frazier, delving into his career in the ring and his life after his third fight with Ali, the iconic "Thrilla in Manilla," as well as exploring the brief boxing career of Frazier's son Marvis. Drawing on interviews conducted by journalist Lewis with Joe, Marvis, and others in the Frazier entourage in 1980, the book offers insightful portraits of both father and son, capturing not only Joe's love for Marvis, but also the former heavyweight champion's arguable mismanagement of his son's career by attempting to force the younger Frazier into adopting the same kind of brawling, ever-advancing approach that defined Joe's style. Along the way, Lewis reprises the high and low points in Joe's own career, offering a convincing argument that Frazier should have been awarded the decision in his second Ali bout and sensitively describing the effects on Frazier of Ali's cruel taunting of his rival, especially the absurd claim that Joe was an "Uncle Tom." This Maileresque combination of personal reflection, boxing analysis, and sports biography is a must read for fight fans, especially those whose understandable idolatry of Ali have kept them from seeing Frazier as a notably complex, generous, and loving man.
— Booklist, Starred Review
In the spring of 1980, journalist Glenn Lewis visited Joe Frazier's boxing gym, the first step in shadowing Joe and his son Marvis for a long article. It was a propitious time. Joe's fighting days were all but over, and Marvis's professional career was close at hand. In most cases, the end of a fighter's career is not a happy time: it is often punctuated by painful losses and anxiety about the future. Joe, however, had a plan. Convinced that he could sing, he was intent on taking his act on the road. Marvis also had dreams—dreams of Olympic glory and then a heavyweight title. Both men would face bitter disappointment, but the story of their season of high hopes provides an interesting look at both father and son. Lewis, a journalism professor at York College (CUNY), presents a convincing tale. Recommended.”
— Choice
Even if you're not a boxing fan, you'll love this sizzling book. It’s a real eye opener into the lives and minds of two great fighters and the people around them, with never-before-known nuggets. Relive ‘The Fight of the Century’ and their two other venomous brawls. Go down to ringside with Frank Sinatra, Norman Mailer, Woody Allen, and even Burt Lancaster. Spectacularly human and a real page-turner.
— George Arzt, Former NY Post political reporter, Fox-5 News editor and Press Secretary to Mayor Edward I. Koch
In the spring of 1980, journalist Glenn Lewis visited Joe Frazier's boxing gym, the first step in shadowing Joe and his son Marvis for a long article. It was a propitious time. Joe's fighting days were all but over, and Marvis's professional career was close at hand. In most cases, the end of a fighter's career is not a happy time: it is often punctuated by painful losses and anxiety about the future. Joe, however, had a plan. Convinced that he could sing, he was intent on taking his act on the road. Marvis also had dreams—dreams of Olympic glory and then a heavyweight title. Both men would face bitter disappointment, but the story of their season of high hopes provides an interesting look at both father and son. Lewis, a journalism professor at New College (CUNY), presents a convincing tale. Recommended.
— Choice
Fighting, family, race, resilience, and the ever-looming presence of Muhammad Ali -- Glenn Lewis provides full context for this intimate portrait of the great Joe Frazier. Lewis views Frazier with clear eyes and genuine heart. In these pages, we feel the fire that burned within Smokin' Joe.
— Anthony DeCurtis, Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone
Glenn Lewis delivers some unforgettable action-packed rounds of storytelling: The complicated, but loving tale of a father and a son. The long, bitter rivalry of a boxing great and The Greatest. The rollicking ride of a young sportswriter and a superstar athlete on the cusp of his twilight years. But what lands most indelibly, with the power of a patented Frazier left hook, is a portrait of an underappreciated American legend who never gave up in the ring or beyond, and always came out smokin’.
— Jere Hester, Editor in Chief of The City
Although he ranks among the greatest professional boxers, Joe Frazier never seemed to escape the glow of his charismatic nemesis, Muhammad Ali. Their rivalry was psychological as well as physical, and lasted long after they left the ring. In this remarkable on-the-scene account, Glenn Lewis creates a memorable, sensitive portrait of Smokin’ Joe. It’s a father-son story, a story of pride, courage, deep faith, resentment, defeat and victory. You don’t have to be a boxing fan to love this book.
— Paul Moses, former city editor of Newsday and author of An Unlikely Union: The Love-Hate Story of New York’s Irish and Italians
Glenn Lewis gives us one smokin' page after another in taking us through the boxing life of one of the greatest heavyweight champions ever, Smokin' Joe Frazier, and of his unparalleled rivalry with Muhammad Ali.
— Randy Gordon, former editor-in-chief, The Ring Magazine, and former New York State Boxing Commissioner
Not only is Sparring with Smokin’ Joe one of the best books having to do with Frazier, and hence his trilogy with Ali, but one of the better boxing books of recent years, a testament to the reporting of Lewis, a director of journalism at York College and professor of print journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.
— BoxingScene.com
[A] a must-read for Frazier fans and a solid plus for most boxing libraries.... Fifty years after his biggest triumph, Joe Frazier remains a compelling topic in the discourse of sociological significance. This well written tribute does him plenty of justice.
— Sweet Science
Joe Frazier was always overshadowed by Muhammad Ali, in the ring and out, but his gifts as a fighter have been getting more appreciation in recent years. Now, with Glenn Lewis’s Sparring with Smokin’ Joe, readers get a glimpse of why Frazier was equally memorable as a man—one for whom life, knockdowns and all, remained “nothing but a party.
— Paul Beston, author of The Boxing Kings: When American Heavyweights Ruled The Ring
When one thinks of Joe Frazier, your mind immediately turns to his rivalry with Muhammad Ali. They both became boxing legends and cultural touchstones for an era, and this book comes just as we arrive at the fiftieth anniversary of the Fight of the Century (Ali-Frazier I). Sparring with Smokin' Joe is a penetrating, and at times brutally candid, look at Frazier.
— Brooklyn Digest