June 29, 2026
Michaela Althouse/PhillyVoice
A statue of Joe Frazier was installed Monday at the base of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's steps inside a fenced-in cul-de-sac where the sculpture of Rocky once stood.
A statue of legendary boxer Joe Frazier has a new home at the base of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's steps.
The monument of the North Philly native was originally installed in September 2015 outside of Stateside Live! near the stadium complex. Designed by Stephen Layne, it shows the moment after Frazier knocked down Muhammad Ali with a left hook in the "Fight of the Century" on March 8, 1971.
The Frazier statue was installed Monday inside a fenced-in cul-de-sac near the museum's entrance. It replaces the Rocky statue, which was moved inside as part of a special exhibition through August and will later be installed at the top of the museum's steps.
The Frazier statue currently stands on top of a concrete base, but Philadelphia's chief cultural officer Val Gay said that will be replaced with granite in the near future.
"Today is a key milestone in Creative Philadelphia's broadest strategy to reanimate the city's public art collection and bring it into civic discourse, making the city's public art more visible and meaningful to everyday Philadelphians," Gay said Monday. "Public art tells a story about our city, its history, its values, the events that have made the place what it is today."
Smokin' Joe Frazier moved to the city from South Carolina as a teenager and is considered one of the greatest heavyweight boxers. He was the first fighter to defeat Ali in the scene depicted in the statue, and he won an Olympic medal in 1964, when he was 20 years old. Some of his training methods, including running the museum steps and training in a meat locker, inspired scenes in the "Rocky" movie.
Later, he founded Joe Frazier's Gym on North Broad Street, which was a training space for young boxers for over 40 years before it closed in 2008. Frazier mentored several boxers there, including Bert Cooper, Duane Bobick, Jesse Hart and his son, Marvis Frazier.
At a news conference unveiling the statue at its new home, Mayor Cherelle Parker also announced plans to establish a "vehicle" through the city fund to allow people to donate to the restoration of Frazier's gym. Further details were not revealed, but Parker said that those contributions would be funneled directly to the facility.
The Philadelphia Art Commission voted in favor of Creative Philadelphia's proposal to move Frazier's statue during its February meeting. The relocation was estimated to cost about $150,000.
At Monday's unveiling, Parker also noted several other statues making their way into Philly public spaces. Monuments of abolitionist Harriet Tubman and trailblazing lawyer Sadie Alexander are also in the works.
