Frazier Set to Face Up to The Truth : Joe’s Nephew to Fight Carl Williams for Title

Eight years ago, Rodney Frazier was so battered and physically drained from playing football that he gave up the sport.

So now he’s a boxer.

“With football, I was battered at all angles of my body,” he said. “I had a broken sternum and bruised ribs. At least with boxing, I can just get hit by hands. There are no crackback blocks.”

Instead, there are hooks and jabs for Frazier, 29, a nephew of former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier. Tonight at 9, in the biggest fight of his career, Rodney Frazier will challenge Carl (The Truth) Williams in a nationally televised (ESPN), 12-round, U.S. Boxing Assn. heavyweight championship fight at Golden Hall.

Although the name Frazier is synonymous with boxing, Rodney has traveled a circuitous road to the ring.

Frazier said that after his senior season as a nose guard at Howard University, he turned down an invitation to try out with the Seattle Seahawks because he “didn’t want to put his body through it.”

Instead, Frazier took his 240 pounds to his uncle’s gym in Philadelphia. His mission was to lose weight, not become a fighter.

“I was fooling around with boxing,” Frazier said. “The muscle I had was kind of awkward. I felt like a robot. I embarked on boxing to lose weight, never having any intentions to fight at all.”

Actually, as a teen-ager, Frazier had thought more about fixing teeth than knocking them out. He wanted to become a dentist.

“At 15 or 16, boxing was the furthest thing from my mind,” Frazier said. “I had pretty white teeth, smooth hands.”

Then came two years at Crowder College in Neosho, Mo.--where he played basketball--and two years at Howard.

“When I got out of college, I was ready to jump out the window,” Frazier said. “Biology, chemistry, all that math. . . . I thought, ‘Am I one of those guys who wants to spend his life looking down someone’s throat?’ ”

Frazier was 30 credits short of his college degree. Uncle Joe wanted him to get those credits, but Rodney decided to try his hand at boxing.

“I was persuading him not to fight,” said Joe, who now is one of Rodney’s trainers. “I didn’t want none of the boys (in his family) to box. I would like to see them go on. They don’t have to fight.”

Even after Rodney became involved in boxing, it took awhile before he became comfortable enough to have Joe train him.

“When Joe was there in the gym, Rodney wouldn’t work,” said Tom Frazier, another of Rodney’s uncles. “At night, I would slip him in the gym.”

Rodney lost weight. And strong efforts against sparring partners such as former heavyweight Randall (Tex) Cobb gave him confidence.

“Tex was so easy to beat up on that I thought maybe I could fight,” Frazier said. “And that’s no disrespect to Tex, because he let me do a lot of things to him.”

Remember Cobb? He took so much punishment during a 15-round loss to then-heavyweight champion Larry Holmes in 1982, Howard Cosell decided he would never broadcast another fight. Eventually, Cobb became an actor.

Rodney Frazier became a fighter.

Frazier started winning fights, going 7-2 as an amateur. He is 9-1 as a professional.

“He never got to realize his ability as a football player,” said Floyd Keith, who was Frazier’s coach at Howard and now is an assistant at Indiana. “He was big as hell. He would have been terrific.”

Frazier said he never had ambition to be a professional football player, but he’s determined to make it as a fighter.

“Now, I’m a dedicated fighter,” Frazier said. “I’ve only lost 3 out of 19, so that lets you know I can fight. I’m very hungry.

“I see the life that it generates for my uncle and the top-ranked fighters around me. It’s the good life. . . . He (Joe) can go anywhere in the world and be recognized. And he has respect. I’m hoping and praying it could do the same for me.”

Tonight’s fight against Williams (19-2) is the most lucrative of Frazier’s career. Frazier, who earns $500 a week setting marble in his other job, will earn approximately $20,000 to fight a more experienced opponent. Frazier is 6-feet 3 1/2-inches and weighs 209 pounds, and Williams is 6-4, 215.

Frazier is a decided underdog against Williams, who lost a close decision to Holmes on May 20, 1985, and suffered his only other loss to Mike Weaver.

“I was surprised they offered this fight to me,” Frazier said. “This is the opportunity of a lifetime for me. Within my heart, I feel I will win.”

During the prefight news conference in San Diego last Friday, Williams played the part of the brash champion. Rodney Frazier, sitting beside Joe, was quiet and seemed to appreciate having the opportunity.

“Rodney Frazier, in my opinion, is probably one of the better fighters in the Frazier family, with the exception of Joe Frazier,” Williams said.

“Thank you,” Joe said.

Williams continued.

“Most of the Frazier clan fights in the manner that Joe did,” Williams said. “But Rodney is more of a boxer as opposed to your bob-and-weaver throwing bombs. Although he’s (also) a hell of a puncher himself. It will be a very interesting fight.

“I hope I can get it over early because I happen to like Rodney a lot. I hope I can get it over early to spare him any pain. I really do.”

Said Rodney: “I’m glad he wants to spare me that agony, but I hope he doesn’t exhaust himself too early.”

The relationship between Joe and Rodney goes back a long way.

“It’s like a father-son thing,” Rodney said. “My uncles played the roles of my father. My mother was never married. And being the heavyweight champion, Joe was really someone kids would want to hang around with.”

Rodney said he hasn’t sparred with Joe since 1980 but trains with him in the gym on a regular basis.

“Working with Joe Frazier can be brutal,” Rodney said. “My uncle trains, plays and everything else just like he fought, rough and hard. It’s hard training, but it’s worth every minute of it. Not many people get the opportunity to have a former heavyweight champ as an uncle.”

Notes James (The Heat) Kinchen of San Diego will fight Tim Williams in a 12-round California super middleweight title fight preceding the Frazier-Williams fight. The fight card begins at 7:30. Doors open at 6:30.