It was both Joe Frazier’s good luck and misfortune to live contemporaneously with Muhammad Ali.

Good luck, because the three epic heavyweight battles between them were among the most memorable in boxing history.

(Indeed, many experts say their last bout — the 1975 “Thrilla in Manila,” in which Frazier was stopped by his corner from answering the bell for the 15th round — was the greatest fight of all.)

But misfortune, in that he never managed to emerge from Ali’s imposing shadow, despite his own impressive run as heavyweight champion.

It’s a sad fact that Frazier, who died Monday at 67, never truly received his well-earned due as a fighter, though experts now concede that he ranks among boxing’s best.

In large part, this was due to his having lost two of the three Ali fights, as well as a devastating knockout defeat at the hands of George Foreman that cost him the title.

But it was also due to the vicious and ugly public humiliation he endured at the hands of Ali, who belittled him unjustifiably as a racial sellout and a “stupid gorilla.”

As Frank DeFord has written, Ali “taunted other black — and only black — opponents . . . and quite successfully, to establish himself as the true representative of American manhood, while painting his rivals as unworthy, even Uncle Toms.”

Ali’s own talents spoke so eloquently for themselves that he would have stood apart despite the baiting, though perhaps that was not so clear at the time.

And most in the news media found Ali’s race-based mocking at a time of great racial turmoil in America to be hilarious and entertaining — as did too many readers and viewers. That’s why it worked.

Frazier, on the other hand, quite justifiably seethed.

But there were also moments of triumph: After winning the title, he became the first African-American since the Civil War to address the Legislature in his home state of South Carolina.

And, in his adopted hometown of Philadelphia, it was Frazier who was always considered “The Greatest.”

As the years go on, Frazier will no doubt be fully recognized for the great champion he was. Too bad he will not have lived to see that day.