May 20, 1964

This took place back when boxing was still – well – boxing.

The date was May 20, 1964 – a Wednesday some 51 years ago today – and the U.S. Olympic Team was concluding trials to see who would make the team and who wouldn’t. The trials were conducted at the World’s Fair in Flushing, New York, over three consecutive days with each bout lasting for three rounds. The combatants wore protective headgear and 10-ounce gloves instead of the regular eight-ouncers. Each fighter fought one bout per day.

In the finals of the heavyweight division, Buster Mathis was facing Joe Frazier for the honor of representing the U.S. in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics some five months hence in October.

In the quarter-finals on Monday, Mathis advanced by winning a decision over Richard Pettigrew and Frazier advanced by knocking out Wyce Westbrook in the third round. In the semi-finals on Tuesday, Mathis out-pointed Tyrone Hollins while Frazier won via a second-round TKO over Clay Hodges. So that put Buster Mathis and Joe Frazier in the same ring to decide who would go to Tokyo and who would stay home.

Mathis vs Frazier

Buster Mathis was 21 years old – 6-3 and 245 pounds – and he was undefeated as an amateur.

Joe Frazier was a year younger at 20 – 5-11 and around 200 pounds. He was Golden Gloves heavyweight champ from 1962 through 1964. His amateur record was 38-1 – his lone loss coming at the hands of Buster Mathis.

Joe Frazier was seeking revenge for that lone loss, but Buster Mathis had a trick up his sleeve.

Mathis pulled his trunks up high. So when Frazier was working the body, it looked like he was delivering low blows. So much so that, in the second round, the referee penalized Frazier two points for low blows.

In the three-round bout, those two points represented the difference between victory and defeat. Mathis won the decision and the trip to Tokyo.

But fate had a trick up its sleeve for Buster Mathis.

He’d broken his thumb in the fight with Frazier and it was slow in healing as the Olympics approached. At first, Frazier was added to the team as an alternate. But when Mathis’ thumb refused to heal in time, Frazier replaced him as the team’s heavyweight.

In the first round of the Olympics on October 15, 1964, Joe Frazier met George Oywello – 5-11 and 196 – from Uganda. Frazier had his way with Oywello. The referee stopped the fight just 1:35 into the first round and awarded a TKO victory to Frazier.

Four days later, Frazier met Australia’s Athol McQueen – 6-5, 181 – in the Quarter-Finals. This fight lasted even shorter than Frazier’s first fight. The referee stopped the fight just 40 seconds into the first round and awarded the victory to Frazier.

Two days later came the Semi-Finals and a match with the Russian Vadim Yemelyanov – a worthy opponent at 6-2 and 214 pounds. The Russian made it through the first round and here’s how Joe Frazier later described the second round:

“My left hook was a heat seeking missile, careening off his face and body time and again. Twice in the second round I knocked him to the canvas. But as I pounded away, I felt a jolt of pain shoot through my left arm. Oh damn, the thumb. 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.”

Frazier dealt with Yemelyanov with a flurry of rights.

At 1:49 of that same second round, Yemelyanov’s handlers threw in the towel. Ten seconds later, after counting out the Russian, the referee raised Joe Frazier’s injured hand in victory.

But Frazier had broken his left thumb.

Rather than risk being replaced by another alternate and missing out on an opportunity to win the gold, Joe Frazier kept his broken thumb a secret. He soaked it in Epsom salts and nursed it for the next two days.

Two days later, on October 23, Frazier faced Hans Huber – 6-4 and 212 pounds – from Germany in the Olympic Heavyweight Finals. Huber was a 30-year-old mechanic who first tried out for Germany’s wrestling team but failed to make it. Instead, he made the boxing team, so his skills were somewhat suspect.

Joe Frazier threw a lot of right-hand leads in that fight and mixed in just enough left hooks to keep the German off-balance. But there was no sting in his left hand. He threw a lot of punches, but the German was still standing at the end of three rounds and not much worse for wear.

The judges voted three-to-two in favor of Joe Frazier – and that’s how he won the gold medal.

From there, Joe Frazier returned to America as a conquering hero. Heavyweight champs were revered in those days as the toughest men alive. And Frazier turned pro and became one of the greatest heavyweights in the history of boxing.

Barry Bowe is the author of Born to Be Wild, 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant, and 12 Best Eagles QBs.