Bull Market

Few brokers have ever heard of Cloverlay Inc., but in its own way it ranks right up there with Xerox as a growth stock. The plungers who risked $250 for a single share of Cloverlay stock in 1965 have since received splits and dividends that have boosted the value of each original share to $3,600. And that was two weeks ago. Last week in Manhattan, an ex-slaughterhouse laborer from Philadelphia named Joe Frazier stamped himself as the No. 1 contender for Cassius Clay's vacant heavyweight title by stopping Canada's durable George Chuvalo in the fourth round --and Cloverlay Inc. started talking about another dividend.

Joe Frazier, 23, is Cloverlay Inc.'s only asset; the corporation pays his manager and all training expenses, gives Joe $100 a week plus bonuses. A 5-ft. 11 1/2-in. 204-pounder with a crushing left hook, a swarming attack and basic notions of strategy ("I just want to put the other guy away as fast as I can"), Frazier hardly compares to Clay either in size or ability. But there are certain similarities. Like Cassius, Joe is an Olympic champion; he won the heavyweight title at Tokyo in 1964. Like Cassius, he is undefeated as a pro, and he has won practically all of his fights on knockouts--15 out of 17, to be exact.

With credentials like those, Frazier can afford to give himself a bye by refusing to fight in the World Boxing Association's elimination tournament that begins in Houston next week. Floyd Patterson, Ernie Terrell and six other so-called contenders can go ahead and battle it out for the W.B.A.'s heavyweight title. None of them was able even to dent George Chuvalo. And none will be able to call himself champion of anything until he fights Joe Frazier.

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