{"id":422982,"date":"2026-02-13T04:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T04:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/422982\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T04:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T04:28:12","slug":"smokin-joe-to-ko-rocky-fraziers-statue-could-take-rockys-place-at-the-bottom-of-the-philadelphia-museums-steps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/422982\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cSmokin&#8217; Joe\u201d To KO &#8216;Rocky!&#8217; Frazier&#8217;s Statue Could Take Rocky&#8217;s Place At The Bottom Of The Philadelphia Museum&#8217;s Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxing247.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add East Side Boxing as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770669047_552_google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEV0p2ZUdsdVp6STBOeTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?ceid=US:en&amp;oc=3&amp;hl=en-US&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow East Side Boxing on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>But now, things could change, and \u201cSmokin\u2019 Joe\u201d could be about to KO \u2018Rocky!\u2019 According to various news outlets in the city, Joe\u2019s statue could soon take the place the \u2018Rocky\u2019 statue currently resides at, this as the \u2018Rocky\u2019 statue is temporarily moved inside the museum, before being moved again, this time to the top of the iconic steps.<\/p>\n<p>And this is just what Frazier\u2019s fans and admirers say should have been the case all along. If the move is made, both Frazier and the silver screen \u201cHam \u2018n\u2019 Egger\u201d will continue to \u201crepresent symbols of hard work and aspiration, with Frazier as the embodiment of those values in real life,\u201d said Katherine Liss, director of the Philadelphia Art Commission.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRelocating the Joe Frazier statue to this prominent civic and cultural space would increase public visibility for the statue, deepen educational opportunities, and create a respectful dialogue between two complementary representations of of Philadelphia\u2019s spirit,\u201d Liss said to CBS News.<\/p>\n<p>Some fans who have made the pilgrimage to the \u2018Rocky Steps,\u2019 said they didn\u2019t even know that Joe Frazier had a statue in his honour. Now, if the planned move is made, this will not be the case for anybody any longer.<\/p>\n<p>Frazier, who ruled the world as heavyweight champion from 1970 to 1973 and who, in March of 1971 emerged triumphant in the epic \u2018Fight of the Century\u2019 with Muhammad Ali, left behind an amazing and indeed inspirational legacy. Joe, who retired with a 32-4-1(27 KO) record in 1981, passed away in November of 2011.<\/p>\n<p>Joe would absolutely be thrilled to learn a statue paying tribute to all the toil that he went through \u2013 be it when he was giving his all inside the gym, when he was out on the road getting his wind, and when he was going to war in the ring under the bright lights \u2013 could soon be the new star attraction in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But now, things could change, and \u201cSmokin\u2019 Joe\u201d could be about to KO \u2018Rocky!\u2019 According to various news&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-422982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}