Boxing promoter and pay-per-view pioneer Joe Hand Sr. died on Thursday, Aug. 1, at the age of 87 after a battle with COVID-19, according to his son.
He is known for his work mentoring Joe Frazier who went on to become an Olympic Gold Medalist and who defeated Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden in 1971.
Hand was inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame as well as the Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame last year.
He was the founder and chairman of Joe Hand Promotions which is best known for distributing sports programming for more than 50 years.
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Hand's son says that he was involved in the business until he fell ill with COVID two weeks ago.
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