# @phillyinquirer on TikTok

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.tiktok.com/@phillyinquirer/video/7441703888329133342
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/72397316-phillyinquirer-tiktok
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/d8f8df623d.jpg
- **Posted:** 2024-11-26T21:31:54.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** The Philadelphia Inquirer (@phillyinquirer) — https://gondola.cc/phillyinquirer

## Caption

Joe Frazier died of liver cancer in 2011, at age 67. He never lived to see his likeness on a statue, or his name on a street sign, or any other grand gesture from the place that shaped him. That bothered his family and friends. What bothered them even more was the city’s decision to embrace its fictional son before its adopted one. “Rocky was good in the movies, but he wasn’t real,” said Frazier’s nephew Rodney. “You’ve got a real champion, who did things that you saw in the movies, but you don’t give him his props?” The story of Rocky Balboa was based in part on Frazier’s life. He would run through Fairmount Park and jog up those same steps at the Art Museum. When Frazier first trained at the PAL, he worked as a cowpuncher at Cross Brothers Meat Packers, a slaughterhouse in Kensington. His most famous fights came against a brash, loud, Black man, who many believe inspired the character of Apollo Creed.The Rocky statue was donated to the city in 1982. Frazier didn’t get his own until 2015 — four years after he died. It stands in the South Philadelphia sports complex, in front of Xfinity Live. “When you go to Philadelphia, it’s not like, ‘Oh, my God, we’ve got to go see the Joe Frazier statue,’” said Frazier’s son Derek. “I don’t think it’s in a place where it needs to be. I don’t want my father’s legacy to be ignored. And if you put him down there with the drunks and [expletive] like that … I don’t know if that’s the smart move.” Click the link in our bio for more. 📝 by Alex Coffey and Ryan W. Biggs / Staff 🎥 by Gabe Coffey / Staff #foryou #Philadelphia #Rocky#JoeFrazier

## Stats

- **Views:** 32,200
- **Likes:** 1,564
- **Shares:** 126
- **Comments:** 58

## Tags

joefrazier, foryou, rocky, philadelphia

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