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
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
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
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