THRILLA IN MANILA GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY 14: FRAZIER'S 1964 OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 28 Sep 2025
At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, American heavyweight fighter Buster Mathis was the qualifier but got injured in practice, that's why Joe Frazier came in as a replacement. At the Olympic heavyweight boxing event, Frazier knocked out George Oywello of Uganda in the round of 16. Then he knocked out Athol McQueen of Australia in 40 seconds in the quarter-finals. He was the only American boxer left at the semi-final stage as all the other American fighters were defeated. He was to fight the 6'2", 214-lb Vadim Yemelyanov of the Soviet Union.
Frazier wrote in his autobiography: "My left hook was a heat-seeking missile, careening off his face and body time and again." He knocked Yemelyano down twice in the second round. But as he pounded his for away, he felt a jolt of pain shoot through his left arm and knew immediately the thumb of his left hand was damaged, but he was not sure of the extent of the injury.
"In the midst of the fight, with your adrenaline pumping, it's hard to gauge such things. My mind was on more important matters. Like how I was going to deal with Yemelyanov for the rest of the fight," said Frazier. The semi-final match ended prematurely when the Soviet's corner threw in the towel at 1:49 in the second round, and the referee raised Frazier's injured hand as the winner.
Frazier then moved into the final round, but he did not tell anyone of his broken thumb. He went back to his room and dipped his thumb in hot water and Epsom salts. "Pain or not, Joe Frazier of Beaufort, South Carolina, was going for gold," he proclaimed. He proceeded to fight German Hans Huber, who was eight years his senior. Frazier was now used to fighting bigger guys, but not with a damaged left hand.
When the opening bell sounded to start the fight, Joe advanced and threw some punches, and used his right hand more often than his injured left that night. Sometimes he would use his left hook, but the impact was lesser than what he had landed in the previous bouts. Despite his difficult situation Frazier won a 3–2 decision and the Olympic gold medal was in his possession.
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