Ex-heavyweight champ Joe Frazier has liver cancer

The 67-year-old boxer was diagnosed four or five weeks ago, Fraziers personal and business manager said on Saturday. Leslie Wolff told The Associated Press the doctors have not yet told Frazier how long he has to live.We have medical experts looking into all the options that are out there, Wolff said. There are very few. But that doesnt mean were going to stop looking.Wolff, who has been Fraziers manager for seven years, said the boxer had been in and out of the hospital since early October and receiving hospice treatment for the last week.We appreciate every prayer we can get, Wolff said. Ive got everybody praying for him. Well just keep our fingers crossed and hope for a miracle.Frazier was the first man to beat Muhammad Ali, knocking him down and taking a decision in the so-called Fight of the Century in 1971. He would go on to lose two more fights to Ali, including the epic Thrilla in Manila.Frazier was bitter for many years about the way Ali treated him then. More recently, he said he had forgiven Ali for repeatedly taunting him.Smokin Joe was a small yet ferocious fighter who smothered his opponents with punches, including a devastating left hook he used to end many of his fights early. It was the left hook that dropped Ali in the 15th round of their Fight of the Century at Madison Square Garden in 1971 to seal a win in a bout where each fighter earned an unheard of $2.5 million.While that fight is celebrated in boxing lore, Ali and Frazier put on an even better show in their third fight, held in a sweltering arena in Manila as part of Alis world tour of fights in 1975. Nearly blinded by Alis punches, Frazier still wanted to go out for the 15th round of the fight but was held back by trainer Eddie Futch in a bout Ali would later say was the closest thing to death he could imagine.Frazier won the heavyweight title in 1970 by stopping Jimmy Ellis in the fifth round of their fight at Madison Square Garden. He defended it successfully four times before George Foreman knocked him down six times in the first two rounds to take the title from him in 1973.