"Smokin" Outside The Ring

As you'd expect, "Smokin" Joe Frazier still loves to hit things.

But what is surprising is how funny and easy-going he can be despite all the difficult days he's had outside the ring, reports CBS News national correspondent Byron Pitts.

For the one-time "baddest" boxer on the planet, it's now a struggle just to get up stairs.

After hundreds of fights, Frazier walked away fine. But one car accident and he hurt himself.

"Fast cars and slow women," Frazier tells Pitts, with a laugh. "Ooops!"

And all those millions. From all those big fights? Most of it's gone, lost to bad investments and bad associations.

Still, Frazier seems content scratching out a modest income from public appearances — like a recent charity exhibition — and his gym, which still draws young contenders and wanna-be's.

Frazier also says he's moved beyond the hard feelings that boarded on hatred for Muhammad Ali, adds Pitts, who added venom to the "sweet science" with his brutal, race bating, verbal jabs at Frazier.

Most don't know this but when Ali was stripped of his title, it was Frazier who lent him money, lobbied for his re-instatement, even drove Ali to a hearing.

"And as soon as he got out of the car he goes, 'There's Joe Frazier, Joe Frazier's got my title. I want my title. I want to fight Joe Frazier,'" said Frazier, using his best Ali impersonation.

"It got out of hand," adds Frazier. "He called me this, he calledm e that, everything in the book."

Frazier, of course, exacted his revenge in their first fight. He would lose their final two fights.

Ali did apologize, adds Frazier, albeit via television. And Frazier, in time, has come to forgive Ali.

"It's just like, you know, the Lord said — you can't go on and come back to Heaven with hatred in mind, different places. You have to forgive people," said Frazier.

Beloved by his family, his son Marvis hopes the fans can find a soft spot for "Smokin" Joe, just as they have for boxing legends like Ali and George Foreman.

"Joe Frazier is a man that anybody can touch, you can feel," said Marvis Frazier. "When you see him, he's always willing to shake your hand, to help you if you're down."

Frazier is a generous man.

This reporter saw it first hand when he received an autographed trophy right off his office wall.

It's that generosity that's both helped and hindered his life, in and out of boxing. But for better or worse, Joseph William Frazier made his living and his legacy with that heart and those hands.

"I'm living good," said Frazier. "I'm doing things to help others and that may maybe even helps put a smile on my face," said Frazier.

He makes no apologies for any of it.