When the great boxing trainer Eddie Futch stopped Joe Frazier from going out to face Muhammad Ali late on in Manila all those years ago, he had good reason.

Muhammad Ali was among the mourners on Monday at the funeral of long-time rival Joe Frazier in Philadelphia.

Boxing was today mourning the passing of one its finest heavyweights after Joe Frazier lost his battle with liver cancer.

Legendary trainer Freddie Roach isn’t allowing a battle with Parkinson’s Disease curtail his development of a new era of boxing superstars. Simon Lewis spoke to him in Los Angeles.