Memphis mayor to fight Joe Frazier

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- It won't be the "Thrilla in Manila," but Mayor Willie Herenton promises a good show when he steps into the ring with former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier.\nThe mayor, a 66-year-old former amateur boxer, and 62-year-old "Smokin' Joe" will fight a three-round exhibition bout Thursday for charity.\nMore than 30 years removed from his legendary 1975 battle against Muhammad Ali in the Philippines, Frazier said he had no intention "to do too much damage on the mayor."\n"He don't play too rough, then I won't play too rough," he told WMC-TV as he arrived at the Memphis airport Tuesday night.\nFrazier, who held the heavyweight title from 1968 to 1973 and retired from boxing in 1976, runs a gym in Philadelphia and stages occasional exhibition bouts.\nThe exhibition at the Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis will raise money for the city's drug court, which offers rehabilitation services to drug abusers as an alternative to jail.\nHerenton turned to boxing while growing up in poverty in Memphis and credits the sport with building the self-confidence that helped him become the city's first black mayor. He's now in his fourth term.\nThe mayor, who helped bring the Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson heavyweight title fight to Memphis in 2002, has been having fun promoting Thursday's match and talking about his accomplishments as an amateur boxer.\n"If they can see me at this age, can they imagine what I was like in my teens? I was awesome," he said with a laugh.