Joe Frazier needed to look sensational after scoring a lackluster 10-round decision over pudgy journeyman Geroge “Scrap Iron” Johnson in Los Angeles in May of 1967, and the udefeated heavyweight up-and-comer delievered by stopping rock-jawed contender George Chuvalo at New York City’s famed Madison Sqaure Garden in his very next fight.

Editor and founder of THE RING, Nat Fleischer, was so impressed with the fourth-round TKO Frazier scored on July 19 of ’67 that he advanced the Philadelphia slugger from No. 4 to No. 1 in the magazine’s heavyweight ratings.

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