Classic American West Coast Boxing

[kikibalt]

In 1964 I bought a 1963 SS at Felix's Chevy. for $1,700.00, that car was only a year old, and in 1967 I bought a 1965 SS for Connie.....

[kikibalt]

My first car was a '55 Ford pick-up. Paid $400 for it. 3-spd. column shift.
I put a 4/8-track Muntz tape stereo. Dent's. Got me to the gym and fights.

'54-'55 Ford pick-ups were bad-ass trucks....

[THEHAMMER321]

I remember when I was a teenager my friends and I would laugh at all these middle aged guys we have all seen them a pony tail going bald and an earring driving a corvette trying to score some young broads
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Catnip . . .

Those middle aged guys are now old guys, and we have a few at WBHOF events.
There is this one old guy, who was involved in boxing. He has dyed his thinning white hair an orange-red color.

This is a few years back, after the WBHOF banquet had ended, the guy is in the bar sitting next to Eva Futch.
He's wearing gold Elvis-style aviator glasses, and he's leaning right in on Eddie Futch's hot young widow.
Eva's like catnip to the oldsters that attend HOF functions, and our hero is taking his shot.

When I first see them they're talking normally, then an hour later he's leaning in, an hour later he's sweating buckets and trying to touch her.
Our friend was not the only man in the house. A dozen more geezers were hovering, sending her drinks, etc. Lots of pressure & stress.

As I approach the bar with a friend, I get a closer look at the sweating oldster and see that his hair dye is running down his face.
I'm serious, the orange dye was dripping in the sweat, making it look like the guy was rusting.
It reminded me of something I'd seen as a kid in the monster section of the Movieland Wax Museum.
I don't know Eva Futch, but she had to have nightmares after an evening with this guy.

I saw Eddie Futch one time probably about a year before he died with a pretty young either redhead or strawberry blond driving him to smiths grocery store here in Las vegas I figured she was his home health nurse or something does that description fit her and do you know if they lived here

[kikibalt]

I remember when I was a teenager my friends and I would laugh at all these middle aged guys we have all seen them a pony tail going bald and an earring driving a corvette trying to score some young broads
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Catnip . . .

Those middle aged guys are now old guys, and we have a few at WBHOF events.
There is this one old guy, who was involved in boxing. He has dyed his thinning white hair an orange-red color.

This is a few years back, after the WBHOF banquet had ended, the guy is in the bar sitting next to Eva Futch.
He's wearing gold Elvis-style aviator glasses, and he's leaning right in on Eddie Futch's hot young widow.
Eva's like catnip to the oldsters that attend HOF functions, and our hero is taking his shot.

When I first see them they're talking normally, then an hour later he's leaning in, an hour later he's sweating buckets and trying to touch her.
Our friend was not the only man in the house. A dozen more geezers were hovering, sending her drinks, etc. Lots of pressure & stress.

As I approach the bar with a friend, I get a closer look at the sweating oldster and see that his hair dye is running down his face.
I'm serious, the orange dye was dripping in the sweat, making it look like the guy was rusting.
It reminded me of something I'd seen as a kid in the monster section of the Movieland Wax Museum.
I don't know Eva Futch, but she had to have nightmares after an evening with this guy.

I saw Eddie Futch one time probably about a year before he died with a pretty young either redhead or strawberry blond driving him to smiths grocery store here in Las vegas I figured she was his home health nurse or something does that description fit her and do you know if they lived here

That must have been his wife Eva, she is a very young blond woman...

[THEHAMMER321]

Speaking of old ''horndogs'' as my wife calls them there has to be a thousand of these phony elvis guys around Vegas they walk around as though all the woman are after them with there dyed black hair and Elvis glasses someone forgot to tell them they '' couldn't get laid in a chinese whore house with a fistfull of hundreds

[Randyman]

That's my beat up old 56 Ford pick up in the background. The photo is from 1978. That's my daughter Meranda in my arms.

Randy

[Randyman]

Of all my cars and trucks that I have owned, my 1979 Toyota Landcruiser is the one I miss the most. I had that truck throughout the 80's and I had a blast with it. I still miss it. That's Meranda and Andrew in the photo.

Randy :(

[THEHAMMER321]

Of all my cars and trucks that I have owned, my 1979 Toyota Landcruiser is the one I miss the most. I had that truck throughout the 80's and I had a blast with it. I still miss it. That's Meranda and Andrew in the photo.

Randy :(

I didn't know toyota made a jeep style vehicle that long ago but I bet you had fun with that if you like to take it offroad

[THEHAMMER321]

Guys, I received this C.1980 pic., of me from my sister Annie, it show me at a burger stand then owned by John Beyrooty and his brother, John (behind me) was the boxing writer for the now defunct Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, notice the names of the burgers above me.

Frank here is the Baltazar burger
add ''if you wanna a burger that packs a mean punch then the Baltazar burger is the burger for you''

[kikibalt]

Speaking of old ''horndogs'' as my wife calls them there has to be a thousand of these phony elvis guys around Vegas they walk around as though all the woman are after them with there dyed black hair and Elvis glasses someone forgot to tell them they '' couldn't get laid in a chinese whore house with a fistfull of hundreds

[kikibalt]

Of all my cars and trucks that I have owned, my 1979 Toyota Landcruiser is the one I miss the most. I had that truck throughout the 80's and I had a blast with it. I still miss it. That's Meranda and Andrew in the photo.

Randy :(

I always wanted one of those Toyota Landcruiser, never did get one though, always thought what it would be like to drive one up to the Eastern Sierras....

[kikibalt]

Floyd Mayweather Jr. uses illegal injections
March 18, 2010 by Edgar Gonzalez

Boxing is often called the sweet science, if only it was that sweet. Its funny how during the election campaigns, candidates pay thousands of dollars to air attack ads via TV commercials to win an advantage with negative aspects of an opponent or of a policy rather than emphasizing one’s own positive attributes. This happens often in boxing as well.

Take Floyd Mayweather Jr., he accused Pacquiao of using performance enhancing drugs for not accepting the Olympic drug testing, now I am not saying Pacquiao is guilty, but it makes you wonder if he’s hiding anything.

Many people might not know this but Floyd Mayweather Jr. uses illegal injections. Mayweather takes pain-alleviating injections before each bout which are permissible under certain, limited and medically documented conditions by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Meaning Floyd Mayweather Jr. can only fight in the State of Nevada because the substance he uses are illegal in all other states and that is why he only fights in Las Vegas and maybe that is why he refused to fight Pacman at the Dallas stadium.

Lidocaine or the brand name Xylocaine is used to prevent pain. Some might label it as “performance enhancing” shots. Now this substance used before each fight does not enhance your speed or give you a steal chin but it dose numb your hand in to a point where you can’t feel the pain every time you land a punch so you can throw it a lot harder.

Makes you wonder who’s the real cheater? As far as the Nevada State Commission is concerned, Mayweather’s hands are literally clean on this matter but it definitely makes you wonder what kind of chemicals are in these injectables that are illegal in 49 States.

[THEHAMMER321]

Floyd Mayweather Jr. uses illegal injections
March 18, 2010 by Edgar Gonzalez

Boxing is often called the sweet science, if only it was that sweet. Its funny how during the election campaigns, candidates pay thousands of dollars to air attack ads via TV commercials to win an advantage with negative aspects of an opponent or of a policy rather than emphasizing one’s own positive attributes. This happens often in boxing as well.

Take Floyd Mayweather Jr., he accused Pacquiao of using performance enhancing drugs for not accepting the Olympic drug testing, now I am not saying Pacquiao is guilty, but it makes you wonder if he’s hiding anything.

Many people might not know this but Floyd Mayweather Jr. uses illegal injections. Mayweather takes pain-alleviating injections before each bout which are permissible under certain, limited and medically documented conditions by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Meaning Floyd Mayweather Jr. can only fight in the State of Nevada because the substance he uses are illegal in all other states and that is why he only fights in Las Vegas and maybe that is why he refused to fight Pacman at the Dallas stadium.

Lidocaine or the brand name Xylocaine is used to prevent pain. Some might label it as “performance enhancing” shots. Now this substance used before each fight does not enhance your speed or give you a steal chin but it dose numb your hand in to a point where you can’t feel the pain every time you land a punch so you can throw it a lot harder.

Makes you wonder who’s the real cheater? As far as the Nevada State Commission is concerned, Mayweather’s hands are literally clean on this matter but it definitely makes you wonder what kind of chemicals are in these injectables that are illegal in 49 States.

I would hope some alien would abduct Floyd so we never have to hear or see one of his boring performances or his big mouth :idea:

[raylawpc]

Floyd Mayweather Jr. uses illegal injections
March 18, 2010 by Edgar Gonzalez

Boxing is often called the sweet science, if only it was that sweet. Its funny how during the election campaigns, candidates pay thousands of dollars to air attack ads via TV commercials to win an advantage with negative aspects of an opponent or of a policy rather than emphasizing one’s own positive attributes. This happens often in boxing as well.

Take Floyd Mayweather Jr., he accused Pacquiao of using performance enhancing drugs for not accepting the Olympic drug testing, now I am not saying Pacquiao is guilty, but it makes you wonder if he’s hiding anything.

Many people might not know this but Floyd Mayweather Jr. uses illegal injections. Mayweather takes pain-alleviating injections before each bout which are permissible under certain, limited and medically documented conditions by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Meaning Floyd Mayweather Jr. can only fight in the State of Nevada because the substance he uses are illegal in all other states and that is why he only fights in Las Vegas and maybe that is why he refused to fight Pacman at the Dallas stadium.

Lidocaine or the brand name Xylocaine is used to prevent pain. Some might label it as “performance enhancing” shots. Now this substance used before each fight does not enhance your speed or give you a steal chin but it dose numb your hand in to a point where you can’t feel the pain every time you land a punch so you can throw it a lot harder.

Makes you wonder who’s the real cheater? As far as the Nevada State Commission is concerned, Mayweather’s hands are literally clean on this matter but it definitely makes you wonder what kind of chemicals are in these injectables that are illegal in 49 States.

When his hands started to go on him, Ali reportedly used lidocaine injections in his hands before his fights, too.

[THEHAMMER321]

Randy Gordon on the CBZ...


What's he like?

Randy Gordon, like most boxing insider has a big ego, having said that, if you can get past his ego, he is a o-k guy.

I remember him from back in the 1980s he was on USA cable announced some of the fights and the thing I remember most about is like you said his big ego but then again I think he is from New York what do you expect

[kikibalt]

Randy Gordon on the CBZ...


What's he like?

Randy Gordon, like most boxing insider has a big ego, having said that, if you can get past his ego, he is a o-k guy.

I remember him from back in the 1980s he was on USA cable announced some of the fights and the thing I remember most about is like you said his big ego but then again I think he is from New York what do you expect

You're spot on Paulino....

[Rick Farris]

Early thoughts on Mayweather-Mosely . . .

I like Mosely to win. We'll see?

[Rick Farris]

That's my beat up old 56 Ford pick up in the background. The photo is from 1978. That's my daughter Meranda in my arms.

Randy

Randy . . . My truck was the same thing, but a year older. I remember that in '56, they had a chrome grill, mine was paint.
That truck saved my life six months after I bought it. I was a senior in high school, had just got my pro boxing license and was driving too school one morning. I cruised thru a blind intersection near my house. There was no stop sign, but a guy traveling about 40 mph in a Buick T-boned me in the intersection. The truck slid into a corner curb and tipped over onto the passenger side. I was sitting on my passenger door inside the cab when I saw flames. The gas tank was behind my seat and I knew I had to get out of there. With the passenger door on the ground and the driver door caved in, I had to kick out the front window to escape. I was wearing a pair of wing tipped shoes and was to kick out the winshield. A bout a minute after I escaped, the car blew up. It was on the front page of the local Burbank paper and it's a miracle I was not killed, or even hurt, except for cutting my thumb on the glass as I crawled thru the windshield. That Ford's frame was bent and the truck totaled, except for the engine which my uncle salvaged and put in another truck. I was just about to put new wheels on it, when the crash occured.


-Rick

[Rick Farris]

Many people might not know this but Floyd Mayweather Jr. uses illegal injections. Mayweather takes pain-alleviating injections before each bout which are permissible under certain, limited and medically documented conditions by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Meaning Floyd Mayweather Jr. can only fight in the State of Nevada because the substance he uses are illegal in all other states and that is why he only fights in Las Vegas and maybe that is why he refused to fight Pacman at the Dallas stadium.
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This joker is bad for boxing. Talented, yes. But his bad energy, attitude and fighting style are boring.
We know he's afraid to face Pac, and he may just have jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire with Shane.
Let's see what an old L.A. fighter can do on May 1st.

[kikibalt]

Early thoughts on Mayweather-Mosely . . .

I like Mosely to win. We'll see?

I want Mosley to win!! hope he does a number on "Fake Money"

[kikibalt]

"Aint That A Kick In The Head"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tURcTyzjAg

[THEHAMMER321]

The UNCLE JOHN Connection????

Something just occured to me as I looked thru pics of the WBHOF event. Look at the photo taken of Uncle John at Mando Ramos' memorial, and compare it with photos of Gil King taken at the WBHOF event. Could "Uncle John" really have been Gil King in cognito for Mando's service???? Just curious.

-Rick

Rick
Seriously. Gil king has taken his beatings. When you talk about Uncle John,I remembered what Frank did at Mando's thing. Gil was taggin' along,talkin' about how Suey Welch robbed him. How his fight with(I forget who)was stopped too soon. How he was overlooked for a title shot. It was guys like King that the contenders and Champions had to get through. And now Gil King is paying for it. But this guy seemed happy. He wanted to hang with us. Who are we? Shit,this guy was in there giving and taking.

When we were walking to the lounge,I asked him if he wanted to join us. He smiled and walked with us. It was then that big Iranian showed up talking about how Klitscko didn't want to fight him. Then King engaged him in conversation. We went to the lounge while King was talking to the guy who had three fights in Mexico.

As they were shadow boxing,I was hoping King would have knocked him on his ass.

Rog . . . Gil and I were stablemates and he gave me the same line about Suey. You might remember former heavyweight contender Charlie Powell from the 50's and 60's. Powell said Suey cut his purse so thin he'd end up with nothing. Welch did the same to Gorilla Jones. When Gil was stopped by Crispin Benetiz, he was in no condition to continue and you could see in his eyes he was happy the fight was halted. Mando Muniz ended any chance of this guy making into contention for any title. Although Gil King was a welter, he and I actually would spar togther at the Elk's Club where we trained at the time. Gil was good fighter, but he had a weak chin and limited talent. As you pointed out, King came up in a tough era for welters and his boxing skills weren't on a par with his contemporaries. We all have a right to our memories, even if they are a bit cloudy after all of these years. What a lot of people don't realize is that the 70's was an era of drugs, and many world class fighters from the era, especially in this country, were using cocaine. The minute they reached a level of success, the buzzards would fly in and pat them on their backs and put a spoon up to their nose. Gil was using, I know that. So was Jerry Quarry. So was Frankie Crawford. Bobby Chacon is another. Mando Ramos' drug use was well known, but it was not unique for the era.

During one of my conversations with Danny Lopez last weekend, I asked about his brother Ernie. Danny told me that Ernie's daughters were having their father committed to a home where he could be cared for properly. Danny told me that the effects of the blows his brother took were magnified by heavy drug use during his career. Punches alone will rattle your brain, but throw drugs into the mix and a fighter is suddenly put on the fast track to dementia.

I love my old friends, I respect them and I will defend their place in history. However, some boxers have come to believe that they were better than they were and all have an excuse, or somebody to blame for their shortcomings. Yeah, fighters get screwed, but in most cases it would have made no difference in relation to their place in history.

As for the Iranian. This guy is a pain-in-the-ass who blows smoke up everybody's ass at HOF functions. He told me a few weeks back that he was going to fight Klitschko in November in Spain, but it was a secret and not to tell anybody. I looked at him in disbelief and asked him, "Who do you think I am?". I told him to save the BS for somebody who doesn't know what's going on. I told him that even if he could beat Vlad a match could not be made because he does not deserve one, he needs to beat a top contender, not some drunk that Adolpho Perez pulls out of a Mexican cantina and pays to lay down. I was not a great fighter, but I find it insulting when some phony who never walked the walk trys to tell me he's a World Champ. There are enough BS titles floating around boxing, but the one this guy claims is the last straw. He needs an ass whipping and it wouldn't take a fighter to do the job. There was not a man among our group that couldn't whip this pop-eyed imposter. Even Dan's 84-year-old father, armed with his cane, would have to be an odds on favorite to take the Iranian's WBC Super-Exagerated Continental Caribbe 14 Karat Pain-In-the Ass America's Championship. I believe that's his title?

-Rick

Speaking of this Iranian guy have you spent much time in Vegas because if you walk into any casino here it seems like they have at least 10 guys like that always bragging who they are and who they know and btw do you have 5 dollars I need to get something to eat= a drink a bet a piece of crack and also being born here people think that all people from Vegas are con artists and such but the thing is you actually never find anyone from here they actually got run off from some other state they were living in but they heard how easy it is to beg cheat and steal down here

[THEHAMMER321]

The Jewels In Jerry’s Crown: Quarry at his very best

By Mike Casey -

When you got past the marriage problems, the managerial changes and the hard luck circumstances, you came upon the greatest problem of all with the talented Jerry Quarry: his head. What went on in Jerry’s mind was always the major factor, the greatest frustration, the toughest opponent.

In his straight talking way, boxing’s eternal Comeback Kid from the Los Angeles suburb of Bellflower always acknowledged his biggest failing. After boxing with admirable prudence and restraint to score his greatest victory over the dangerous Ron Lyle in 1973, Quarry sat in his dressing room and jabbed a finger at the tough old melon atop his muscled shoulders and thick neck. “The big difference with me as a fighter now is right here,” he said..

Ah, but it wasn’t. Not really. And we probably wouldn’t have loved him half as much if it had been. Jerry’s volatility was the principal and oddly loveable reason for his magnetism. We kept tuning into the next episode because we had to see whether he would finally put the pieces together and cross the finishing line.

In the crucial fights of his career, Quarry belied his undoubted ring intelligence by employing the wrong tactics when his fierce pride gridlocked his fighting brain. He was the thoughtful counter puncher who chose to slug it out with the prime slugger of the age in Joe Frazier. He was too careful and too patient with smart cookie Jimmy Ellis.

But it was never as simple as that with Jerry. Aside from the strategic errors, there was ill fortune and the occasionally unfathomable. He was the victim of genuine bad luck in his first fight with Muhammad Ali and ambushed by the downright bizarre in his stunning loss to George Chuvalo.

Even on his winning nights, Jerry would sometimes look listless and distracted, as if his opponent was the least of his tormentors. Like poor old Jacob Marley in ‘A Christmas Carol’, one imagined Quarry dragging a great chain in his wake for his sins.

Colourful

Jerry Quarry was a colourful, good-looking Southern Californian of Irish descent, whose erratic ring form constantly bewildered his critics and even his most ardent fans. He would counter exasperating defeats with spectacular victories and send his supporters yo-yoing from joy to despair and back again.

He seemed to relish being written off, for that was when he produced his greatest performances. Praise and acceptance seemed to have the reverse effect, bringing out the negative side of his personality and shattering his ambitions at the most untimely moments.

From the beginning of his career, Quarry was hailed as a potentially great heavyweight, and on his better days he justified such praise by beating some of the finest men in the business. Again and again, he manoeuvred himself tantalisingly close to the world championship, only to stumble and fall in the crucial fights. He could win the pennant but he could never make it through the play-offs.

Such setbacks reminded us of the only real chink in Quarry’s armour: the jumbled mind that all too frequently jammed the controls of an otherwise formidable fighting machine. That mind would only become unclogged when penetrated by harsh criticism or the implication that its owner didn’t have what it takes. Then Jerry would shake himself down and show the world his great talent.

Quarry’s failure to reach the pinnacle of his profession is an everlasting tribute to his incredible allure. He possessed that special charisma that the gods normally reserve for only a handful of champions. When a certain boxing publication conducted a popularity poll of past and present day fighters in the early seventies, Quarry’s name ranked alongside those of Jack Dempsey, Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali.

Jerry’s inconsistency could be infuriating, yet his chances against any man could never be discounted. His disciples kept the faith because Quarry always seemed on the verge of catching fire and realising his magnificent potential.

He had all the necessary physical attributes at his disposal. He looked every inch a fighter, a rock of a man with a thick chest, powerful shoulders and solid legs. He had a powerful punch and a good chin. He was tough and rugged, very much the All-American boy in his early days with his close cropped hair and crooked smile.

But the rain clouds always seemed to home in on Jerry. Inevitably, he inherited the ‘Great White Hope’ mantle, with which he felt genuinely uncomfortable. There was the hate mail from obsessive fans who expected too much. There was the family and in-laws who trailed along with him to all his fights.

The story goes that father Jack Quarry laced gloves on Jerry when his son was just five years of age. When other kids bullied him, Jerry would stand his ground and fight back. As an amateur, he once said, “I feel a great challenge every time I get into the ring. I feel that I am fighting for my life and I must win.”

Let us not forget that Jerry Quarry did win a lot of important fights too, mostly as the underdog. He won them in style and he won them thrillingly. The Bellflower Belter at his very best was something to see.

Thad Spencer

Thad Spencer, out of Portland, Oregon, was the coming man. He had soared to number two in The Ring ratings and many believed he had the beating of Joe Frazier in the heavyweight scramble for supremacy that followed Muhammad Ali’s exile into limbo in 1967. While Muhammad would scrap with the Army draft board and the courts for the thick end of three years, the young tigers in his wake would chase the prized crown.

Spencer was a good stylist with a solid punch who had compiled a 32-5 record and accounted for the respected likes of Roger Rischer, Billy Daniels, Brian London, Doug Jones and Amos ‘Big Train’ Lincoln. There was nothing sensational about Thad, but he was knocking off the right men and getting the job done.

When the WBA organised its eight-man elimination tournament to find a successor to Ali, Spencer got off to a flyer with a unanimous win over the long-time leading contender, Ernie Terrell. Jerry Quarry, by contrast, only squeaked past former champ Floyd Patterson on a controversial decision.

Jerry was a 7 to 5 underdog when he squared off with Spencer on February 3, 1968. Thad was the heavier man by seven and a half pounds at 200 ½, but Quarry was a revelation as he systematically tore the Oregon man apart. The cheers and roars from the crowd of 12.110 thundered around the Oakland Arena as Jerry took control and set up an epic finish.

He floored Spencer in the fourth round with a looping left hook to the chin and again in the tenth with a short, chopping right to the jaw. In each case, there were only seconds remaining in the round as the crowd went wild. Referee Jack Downey, distracted by the cacophony of sound, continued counting to the mandatory eight on both occasions.

Quarry cut the coup de grace just as fine. There were just three seconds left in the twelfth and final round when he jumped on Thad like a tiger. Jerry lashed Spencer with a tremendous barrage of punches, but the significant blow was a big right to the head that set Thad wobbling and scattered him into no man’s land. Spencer tried to clutch and survive but he couldn’t shunt himself out of the line of fire as Quarry rifled lefts and rights to the head to force referee Downey’s stoppage.

Thad Spencer was never the same fighter again. He had eight more fights and lost them all.

Quarry was jubilant and spoke with the confidence of a man who was just weeks away from fulfilling his dream. “I just fought a smart fight and it paid off,” Jerry said. “He hit me one good shot in the whole fight, a left hook in the fifth round that hurt. I told everybody I’d prove I was faster than he was. I knocked him down with the right, which they said I didn’t have.”

Little more than two months later, Jerry was back at the Oakland Arena for the big one against crafty Jimmy Ellis. It was a fight that Quarry could have won and really should have won. You look at the tape even now and wonder why Jerry kept holding back in a close fight that was his for the taking. He still got a draw from judge Rudy Ortega, who saw it 6-6-3. But Elmer Costa scored it big for Ellis at 10-5, while former champ Fred Apostoli also had Jimmy winning by 7-5-3.

Quarry suffered a back injury and was in a body cast for weeks afterwards. It was the beginning of a long cycle of frustration.

Buster Mathis

By the time he got to big Buster Mathis on March 24, 1969, Jerry had done little to convince the fight fraternity that he had any new tricks. Ring editor Nat Fleischer admitted to giving up on him. Jerry had eased his way back since his back injury, posting four wins against modest opposition in Bob Mumford, Willis Earls, Charlie Reno and Aaron Eastling.

Mathis, a goliath of the age at 234 1/2lbs, was pitting his deceptively skilful bulk against Quarry’s 196. Buster was in the form of his life, having suffered just one defeat in his 30 fights, a brave and honourable loss to Joe Frazier at that. Buster was unfairly derided in some quarters for being something of a cartoon character, but he was a fine boxer and an immensely difficult man to knock over. Frazier had hacked at him for the best part of eleven rounds before finally felling him like a big oak tree.

Mathis had reeled off six victories since that derailment, including a bloody and emphatic points win over George Chuvalo just a month before meeting Quarry.

Buster was a 12 to 5 favourite over Jerry when they clashed at Madison Square Garden. The scuttlebutt on the fight beat was that Quarry was incapable of changing his style and would be picked off and possibly stopped by Mathis.

Jerry loved that kind of talk. It had the effect of a liberal shot of Scotch firing through his blood. From the opening bell, the cautious counter puncher turned downright vicious. Yet there was nothing reckless or needlessly cavalier about the boxing lesson that Quarry gave Mathis.

Establishing his authority from the outset with a charging two-fisted attack, Jerry settled down to fashion an aggressive but intelligent performance. Piece by piece, he took Buster apart, switching the attack from head to body and wearing down the big man’s body.

When Mathis split his black velvet trunks down the back in the second round, it was the least of his problems. A left hook to the side of the head from Quarry shuddered through Buster’s body and finally cut the right wire. Mathis hovered momentarily in his dazed state and then dropped to one knee near the ropes. Jerry saw his chance to end the fight early but was too eager in his subsequent attack and failed to find the payoff punch before the bell. He didn’t have the KO but he had Buster’s number.

It was a virtuoso performance on Quarry’s part. He capped it by bloodying Buster’s nose in the tenth and by dropping his hands and inviting the big man to hit him in the eleventh.

The fight wasn’t a shutout for Jerry, but it was the next best thing. Judges Jack Gordon and Tony Castellano tabbed it 10-1-1 for Quarry, while referee Johnny Colan saw it 9-2-1.

“A man that size has to be weak in the body and I just took advantage of it,” Quarry said.

Nat Fleischer certainly changed his opinion of Jerry, commenting, “I saw Quarry, a 12 to 5 second choice, take Buster Mathis apart the way a top flight automobile mechanic will unscramble the components of a delicately made Ferrari. Not that Buster is delicately made.”

Mac Foster

By the dawn of the seventies, Jerry Quarry had one foot in the last chance saloon as a major league player. What should have been a golden year in 1969 had gone steadily downhill after his masterful performance against Mathis, ending in disaster and near farce.

Jerry got it into his head that he could beat Joe Frazier in a head-to-head slugging match in an audacious bid for Joe’s version of the heavyweight championship. It was certainly a treat for the fans, and the opening frame of that memorable war went into the record books as the round of the year. But Quarry’s tactics against a great brawler in the prime of his life only served to bring Jerry the limited glory and lifespan of a kamikaze pilot. He was savagely beaten in seven rounds on a fiercely hot New York night and then thrown out into the cold six months later when he staggered into the surreal mire of George Chuvalo’s winter wonderland.

Seemingly heading for a points win, Quarry was knocked down by a Chuvalo haymaker in the seventh round, arose at the count of three, dropped back to his knee to clear his head and then missed referee Zach Clayton’s cry of ‘ten’. Man, did Jerry holler in his dressing room after that one. The entire world was against him.

When Quarry came into his fight against the highly touted Mac Foster at Madison Square Garden on June 17, 1970, the badly tarnished ‘Great White Hope’ had notched just two meaningless wins since the Chuvalo disaster. A second round bombing of the little known Rufus Brassell had been followed by a laboured points win over that tough old journeyman, George ‘Scrapiron’ Johnson.

Mac Foster was the new kid in town, all the way from Fresno, California, having won all of his 24 fights by knockout. Like his fellow prospect, the young George Foreman, Mac had feasted mainly on weak opposition, but he had vaulted to the number one spot in The Ring ratings. Some kind of tasty trailer invariably heralds the arrival of such a hot young heavyweight prospect, and the story about Foster was that he had reportedly knocked the ageing Sonny Liston unconscious during a sparring session.

Whatever the true quality of Mac’s credentials, he started a 7 to 5 favourite over Quarry, out-reached Jerry by nine inches and outweighed him by 14lbs.

But Foster was suddenly in New York, at the Mecca of boxing itself. Despite his lofty ranking, he was also taking his first dip into genuine world class. It was an entirely different scenario from the gentler fight towns of Fresno and Houston and the simpler business of knocking over the likes of the jaded Cleveland Williams.

Mac was cautious from the opening bell against Quarry. Keeping Jerry at bay with a raking, tentative jab, the bomber from Fresno kept his power in the locker. Only occasionally did he venture a left hook to the head, and Quarry quickly picked up the scent of fear and uncertainty. By the fourth round, Jerry had got his bearings and formulated the appropriate game plan. From the fourth round, he began to move in and attack Mac’s body with sudden flurries, looking to rough up the big man.

Foster seemed confused by Quarry’s raids, which included some meaty hooks to the body. Jerry worked busily on the inside in the fifth, softening his opponent and teeing him up for the big onslaught that would follow.

Quarry sensed the time was right in the sixth round and went to work in earnest. Foster’s ineffective jab was giving him no protection and his ignorance of how to survive in the major league became alarmingly apparent.

Jerry began a sustained assault, forcing Mac to take flight. But Foster couldn’t find a place to hide, and a countering right hand smash pushed him nearer to the cliff’s edge. He slipped and nearly toppled over in a neutral corner and then found himself trapped on the ropes as Quarry let rip and unleashed the big bombs. Somehow Foster extricated himself, but Jerry pursued him to the opposite corner and drove home the payoff blows. Mac collapsed onto the ring apron, shattered and bleeding from a cut to his face. Referee Johnny LoBianco reached the count of three before signalling the end of the fight.

Ron Lyle

Was there ever a better Jerry Quarry than the cool and disciplined boxing master who gave the thunder-punching Ron Lyle such a brilliant lesson in the noble art? Everything had altered for the better in Jerry’s muddled life by the night of February 9, 1973.

Radical changes had been a necessity. Nearly three years after the Mac Foster triumph, Quarry had been twice beaten by Muhammad Ali and had failed to balance the scales with uninspired points wins over Dick Gosha, Tony Doyle, Lou Bailey and Larry Middleton. Only a first round blitz of British champion Jack Bodell in London had seen Jerry at his fiery best.

His muddled private life and marriage problems had spiralled out of control and driven him to the point of despair.

Switching his base of operations from Los Angeles to New York and placing himself under the shrewd tutelage of Gil Clancy, the calmer and more mature Quarry gained a new lease of life and entered the golden phase of his turbulent career.

Gone was the fresh-faced, crew cut kid, supplanted by a tougher and worldlier man. So long had Jerry been hanging around, you had to remind yourself that he was still only twenty-seven.

He must have experienced a distinct feeling of deja-vu when he checked out the dossier on Ron Lyle. For here was another big man, another big puncher with an unblemished record, another hot shot on a roll. But big Ron would thrillingly prove in the years ahead that he was no false alarm. He was a better, tougher, harder fighter than Thad Spencer, Buster Mathis and Mac Foster ever were.

Ron started late in the professional ranks after a seven and a half-year prison term for second degree murder, but he hit the ground running. He had steamed to 19 successive victories and only Leroy Caldwell and Manuel Ramos had taken him the distance. Lyle, under the guidance of trainer Bobby Lewis, had been matched sensibly against a group of name opponents who were either on the slide or ripe to be picked off. Among Ron’s knockout victims were Jack O’Halloran, Bill Drover, Chuck Leslie, Scrapiron Johnson, Vicente Rondon, Buster Mathis and Luis Faustino Pires.

However, Lyle’s most recent triumph was a victory of genuine quality, a third round demolition of Larry Middleton, who had given Quarry a tough distance fight in London just seven months before.

So Jerry was back at his old stomping ground at Madison Square Garden, now an adopted New York son, but otherwise smack in the middle of a familiar old scenario. He was the lighter man by 19lbs at 200lbs even. He was the whipping boy with the golden name that would look great on Ron Lyle’s hit list. Others had tripped and stumbled over the apparent carcass that was Quarry, but the dead man walking would surely have the decency to follow the script this time. He was coming off a somewhat laboured TKO of Randy Neumann, and dear old Randy was no Ron Lyle.
This, then, was the backdrop. You could almost hear Jerry chomping at the bit.

What followed was an astonishingly authoritative and overwhelming performance. Trainer Gil Clancy, who had patiently drummed the importance of self-discipline into Quarry, must have gone to seventh heaven on that memorable February night. How often does any fighter follow a structured game plan to perfection? Jerry was sensational.

A certain, tight atmosphere lingers over a crowd when it expects an underdog to be crushed, like the eerie silence in the midst of a storm that precedes the next clap of thunder. Quarry went to work in such an atmosphere that night and made hay. He marked his territory in the opening round when he missed with a left hook and then shot a right to Ron’s head that made the big man’s knees dip.

Jerry never looked back as he fought shrewdly on the outside and planned his sudden raids with immaculate timing. Another short right in the fifth round buckled Lyle’s knees again, but Quarry was beaten by the bell as he followed up with a salvo of shots to the head.

Jerry continued to shake Ron with rights and flashing left hooks to the head as the shockingly one-sided fight wore on. Lyle’s feet seemed cemented to the canvas as he was skilfully picked off and rattled by a much more worldly and intelligent foe. Any chink of light for Ron quickly disappeared. He was getting the better of things in the eighth round when Jerry suddenly sent him reeling with a big left hook and pounded him with a succession of shots before the bell.
When it was all over, Quarry had breezed home in the performance of his life. Referee Wally Schmidt saw a closer fight than most, returning a 7-4-1 card. Judges Bill Recht and Tony Castellano tabbed it 9-1-2 and 10-2 for Quarry respectively.

In his dressing room, a jubilant Jerry couldn’t resist crowing and rubbing a few faces in the dirt. “I’m not finished and I don’t have to go into another trade like some people said I should. I proved that. Everybody puts me down because I lose the big fights. They say I just beat the bums. They’re crazy as hell. I think Ronnie sitting right here is one helluva fighter.”

Earnie Shavers

A certain fellow from Warren, Ohio, was also one helluva fighter on his night and one helluva puncher into the bargain. Earnie Shavers was out to wreck Quarry’s perfect year of 1973 when the two men faced off at Madison Square Garden on December 14.

The stats boys loved to number crunch Earnie, because the exercise didn’t require too much exertion. He had lost only two fights and knocked out all but two of his 47 victims. Shavers was a banger and how he could bang. He had wrecked the clever Jimmy Young in three rounds and was coming off a one round blitz of former WBA champ, Jimmy Ellis.

Then Earnie met Jerry and it was all over in two minutes and twenty-one seconds. Riding high and full of confidence, Quarry crashed a left hook to the temple of Shavers and sent him staggering into the ropes. Always a clinical finisher, Jerry kept firing as Earnie descended into the abyss. A right to the face sent Shavers down, scattering his mind and taking the life from his legs. He got up unsteadily, reeled into a corner and was rescued by referee Arthur Mercante.

Everyone was hugely impressed by Quarry’s performance, including world champion George Foreman, who agreed that Jerry was a deserving challenger. How the fans clamoured for a Foreman-Quarry showdown!
Well, Big George never did fight Juggernaut Jerry, and perhaps it is just as well. Would Jerry have won? No.

Alas, for the same old oddly endearing reason.

Mike Casey is a boxing journalist and historian. He is a member of the International Boxing Research Organization (IBRO), an auxiliary member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and founder and editor of the Grand Slam Premium Boxing Service for historians and fans (http://www.grandslampage.net).

Another great story on Jerry Quarry

[kikibalt]

Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Shane Mosley headlines buffet of spring bouts

By Bill Dwyre
latimes

March 22, 2010

The wacky world of boxing keeps right on truckin' the next several months. It's a treadmill without an off switch.

Its menu will offer a range from filet mignon to liver and onions. Rest assured that somebody in authority will put ketchup on the filet.

The most palatable should be the May 1 fight in Las Vegas between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Shane Mosley. Mayweather is unbeaten and Mosley, based on his mugging of Antonio Margarito in January 2009, is dangerous.

This will be a competitive fight. Also, with five weeks to go, it is bringing some chuckles.

This fight is happening because the one everybody wanted, Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao, didn't. Mayweather took care of that with demands for blood testing to be done prior to the fight. Pacquiao said no thanks, half the world of boxing fans immediately leaped to the conclusion that the Filipino superstar had something to hide, and an angry Pacquiao responded by suing Mayweather for defamation of character.

This is normal stuff for boxing, where lawyers and liars are key parts of the entourages.

They had a conference call recently with the chief executive of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. His name is Travis Tygart and he said he was thrilled that this fight would be used to pioneer blood testing in boxing. Tygart has entered the boxing world. Think of a poodle surrounded by six coyotes.

Richard Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy, which promotes Mosley and has an operational agreement with Mayweather's promotion company, said the conference call and the action it was announcing were "historic" and a "watershed moment."

Mayweather was deemed the catalyst for the blood testing, the visionary in this medical breakthrough. Floyd Mayweather Jr. becomes Jonas Salk. Can't wait for the movie.

Leonard Ellerbe, Floyd Jr.'s. manager, was asked why Floyd was doing this now. Ellerbe answered: "Why now, or why not now? Things change. Ten years ago, the Internet wasn't around."

That cleared that up.

Tygart and Mosley's lawyer, Judd Bernstein, credited Mosley with voluntarily stepping up to be part of the testing. Voluntarily?

1. Mosley was connected to the BALCO proceedings in 2003 and admitted taking some of Victor Conte's enhancing stuff, though saying he didn't know what it was. Had Mayweather taken the fight with Mosley and then, after all his drug noise over the Pacquiao fight, not demanded testing from Mosley, the fight would have lost all credibility. This wasn't visionary. It was ticket-selling necessity.

2. Mosley hasn't had a fight since January of last year. He is 38 and, if he is like all boxers, needs a payday. If necessary, he would have let them test him for excessive nose hairs.

Left unsaid was that, while it thinks more testing is better than less testing, the Nevada State Athletic Commission sanctions, monitors and controls this fight — not USADA. It has requested from Schaefer that a copy of any and all USADA tests be sent to them directly from the lab.

"One thing we won't do," says Keith Kizer of the Nevada commission, "is help one fighter get a mind-game advantage over another fighter."

Meanwhile, back to the fights, the usual circus, in quick and chronological order.

— Saturday, in Detroit: Arthur Abraham vs. Andre Dirrell in the continuation of a Super Six Tournament that has become noteworthy for injuries, pullouts, venue changes and an occasional fight. Figure they'll crown a champion along about 2018.

— April 3, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas: Bernard Hopkins, 45, vs. Roy Jones Jr., 41. This is a rematch of a fairly bad fight that took place 17 years go. They should call this promotion: "We Hope They Forgot." No need for Mayweather's medical magic for this one. They'll both have Medicare soon.

— April 10, Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas: Evander Holyfield vs. Francois Botha. Holyfield is 47. He has had 81 pro fights. Shouldn't there be a law against this?

— April 10, Atlantic City, N.J.: Kelly Pavlik vs. Sergio Martinez: Not a lot of politics here. Just two good fighters. Imagine that.

— April 24, Citizens Business Bank Arena, Ontario: Riverside's Chris Arreola vs. Jersey City's Tomacz Adamek. Many in the Eastern boxing press are upset because Arreola's promoter, Dan Goossen, prevailed and the fight will be in California, rather than in Atlantic City, where they could see it and they say an 18,000-seat arena could be sold out for the popular Adamek. Those of us in the West say, "Nice job, Dan."

— May 22, Staples Center: Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez. Marquez is 35, Vazquez is 32. They have fought three times before, Vazquez winning twice. Almost all of their 25 rounds have been bloody and brutal. They are calling this "Once and Four All." How about: "Enough Is Enough"?

Then, of course, there is May 10, a fight of a totally different kind. It is election day in the Philippines, where Pacquiao is making his second try at a congressional seat.

Many in boxing are concerned that, if he wins, it will be the last we will see of this incredible boxing talent. Not his promoter, Bob Arum, who said recently, "So what if he's a congressman? I figure their congressmen do the same as ours. Nothing."

[email protected]

[Randyman]

Gillette's Friday Night Fights.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_s1ohwBbJA
Charlie Powell vs Mike DeJohn

I still remember watching the Friday Night Fights with my father back in the 1950’s. It was a ritual for my father. I remember the old beer commercials and the company that my father had at the house when we watched the fights, usually my uncle Gilbert and uncle Jimmy. I was young but I clearly remember. I didn’t know who was fighting but I just loved being there with my dad. I would ask my father “Who are you voting for?” he would laugh and say “You don’t vote for the fighters, son”. I didn’t quite get it yet. Sometimes I would see what appeared to be an opening and yell out to my father “How come he didn’t throw a punch” His answer was almost always. “It’s a lot harder to see those things when you’re in the ring”. I would run around the house throwing punches at imaginary opponents. I wanted to be a boxer. My father had some old leather boxing gloves and a speed bag in the garage. I would punch away at the bag without any real knowledge of what I was doing. I just wanted to feel like a boxer.

When I was older I came to understand that the 1950’s was one of the greatest era in boxing and some of the best fighters of that time would appear on Friday nights. Guys like Sugar Ray Robinson and Carmen Basilio, Chuck Davey, Chico Vejar, Kid Gavilan, Gene Fullmer, Johnny Saxton, Tony DeMarco, Charlie Powell and so many more that I would never be able to mention them all. It was a “Golden Age” for boxing. I was lucky enough to be born at a time when I can still remember it. A little fuzzy perhaps because I was so young but still I remember those nights in our small front room in Santa Fe Springs, California, watching the fights, my father and uncles standing and yelling at the television, their hands swinging away, beer cans in their hands, hoping to be heard by their favorite fighter. Those were special days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_GPxz5D7vo
Sugar ray Robinson vs Carmen Basilio

I’m not a 100% sure if this fight between Sugar Ray Robinson and Carmen Basilio was shown on the Friday Night Fights but I’m reasonably sure it was, either way it fits in perfectly with what I’m trying to say, the 1950’s was an unmatchable and remarkable era for boxing. The above video shows highlights of their September 23, 1957 fight at the Yankee Stadium, a fight won by Basilio via a 15 round hard fought split decision. Both men were still doing their best to win the fight when the final bell sounded. I can’t think of a more difficult fight to judge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMCDDuyzYUc
Rocky Marciano Vintage Commercial

This Rocky Marciano-Hamm’s beer commercial is vintage 1950’s and early 1960’s and I can remember the Hamm’s commercial with the native drumbeats, to this day.