Joe Frazier Statue Moving To Philadelphia Museum Of Art

PHILADELPHIA — It's official: "Smokin'" Joe Frazier's statue is moving to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

City officials confirmed the Philadelphia Art Commission and Creative Philadelphia are moving forward with plans to relocate the statue to the base of the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps.

According to officials, the statue will reach its new home this spring.

The boxing legend moved to Philadelphia at just 15 years old in 1958. He died in Philadelphia on Nov. 7, 2011, at 67 years old from liver cancer and is interred at Ivy Hill Cemetery in Northwest Philadelphia. His statue made its debut in 2015 and was placed outside Stateside Live! (then Xfinity Live!) on Pattison Avenue.

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With Wednesday's news, the statue will sit where the Rocky statue sat for many years. The Rocky statue will be permanently affixed at the top of the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps later this year after it is brought into the museum for a special exhibit called “Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments.”

Officials said they hope moving the Frazier statue "increase public visibility for the statue, deepen educational opportunities, and create a respectful dialogue between two complementary representations of Philadelphia’s spirit: Rocky Balboa as a symbol of hard work and aspiration, and Joe Frazier as the embodiment of those values lived out in real life."

In his boxing career, Frazier was the undisputed heavyweight champion in 1970, won gold at the 1964 Summer Olympics while still an amateur, and in 1971 became the first boxer to defeat Muhammad Ali. Overall, he had a record of 32 wins (27 of which were knockouts), four losses, and one draw.

Officials will use $150,000 in public funds to relocate the statue.