Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, who hold all the major heavyweight belts, paid respect to Joe Frazier on Tuesday as one of the great heavyweight champions.
''My brother and I are very sad about the death of Joe Frazier,'' said Vitali Klitschko, the elder of the two brothers and the WBC champion. ''He was one of the really great heavyweights. He was a great champion and Joe did a lot for the sport of boxing through his social engagements.''
Klitschko's younger brother Wladimir is the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion.
Frazier died at 67 of liver cancer on Monday night.
Former German heavyweight Axel Schulz said he had met Frazier in New York once and called him a ''funny guy.''
''He marked the gigantic era of heavyweight in the 1970s. The news made me incredibly sad,'' Schulz told the German news agency dapd. ''I was shocked by how fast it all went.''
