Kevin Dublin in his fighting stance outside Joe Frazier’s Gym | Photo: Julien Suaudeau

Song of Philadelphia heads from Chinatown to North Broad as host Julien Suaudeau brings Joe Frazier’s Gym alum and fierce advocate, Kevin Dublin, to the podcast. In this first of a two-part episode, Dublin recounts how Frazier recruited him to the gym and gave him the support he needed to become a professional pro boxer. “Joe ran up on me fighting… He said, ‘Wow, man, you can get paid.’ So I’m looking at him, like, that’s Joe Frazier, world champion.”

“One thing stays with Kevin,” observes Suaudeau, “Joe’s voice.”

“Kevin has a few things to say about the neighborhood where he grew up, the gym that used to be there, and the man whose name is still on the building and that Kevin calls Smoke,” says Suaudeau, who spent days, microphone in hand, fighting this spring’s high winds to bring listeners the voice of a Philadelphian who has dedicated himself to Joe Frazier’s legacy of helping others.

“I just thought this man was like a Superman,” says Dublin, about the father-figure who drew him off the streets not once, but twice, and taught him how to fight for his life.

Kevin Dublin and old friends on Cambria Street, where he grew up | Photo: Julien Suaudeau

You can listen to the entire riveting episode, “Let Me See What You Got,” right here, or on our podcast page, or on Spotify or Apple.