5 amazing boxers who won gold at the Olympics

#2 Joe Frazier

Olympic Gold Medalist Smokin' Joe was one of the strongest and most durable boxers ever

The story of Joe Frazier’s gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics begins on a strange note. He was beaten in the Olympic trials by Buster Mathis, and his dreams of going to the Olympics seemed like a distant dream. But as luck would have it, Mathis broke his thumb and Frazier was asked to go instead.

After comprehensively winning the first few matches, he faced off against the intimidating Vadim Yemelyanov in the semi finals. While he managed to win the match, Frazier broke his thumb during the fight. Ironically enough, like Mathis, he'd go into the finals with a broken thumb. Facing Hans Huber in the finals, Frazier pulled no punches and ultimately emerged an Olympic gold medalist.