Jerry Quarry's career post Lorenzo Zanon bout

[sweetviolenturge]

I just rewatched the Jerry Quarry - Lorenzo Zanon bout for the first time since I originally saw it live back in November of 1977. And, it was pretty much just as I remembered it. Zanon gave Quarry a boxing lesson for the first seven rounds before Quarry shook off just enough rust to rally down the stretch & finish the Italian via the three knockdown rule in the ninth round. And, as we know, rather than continue his career he elected to retire again until making an ill-advised comeback as a cruiserweight in 1983.
Quarry won both of his bouts against mediocre opposition in that return, but he took a lot of punishment in the second bout against journeyman James Williams &once again decided against continuing his career. There was, of course, one further comeback nine years later in 1992 when a badly faded Quarry who was already suffering from the early stages of pugilistic dementia was beaten in a six round bout by a total nonentity. The less said about that criminal bout the better.
What I'd like to discuss here is the period immediately following the Zanon victory.
Had he elected to continue his career at that time, what do the rest of you think would have occurred?
After shaking off the two years of rust that he'd accumulated since his 1975 TKO loss to Ken Norton in the Zanon bout do you think that he'd have been able to compete with any of the heavyweights of the day?
Obviously, we know that he wouldn't have been able to hang with the best of the time like Norton, Jimmy Young, Larry Holmes, Earnie Shavers et al. But, what about the lower echelon men like Scott Ledoux, Alfredo Evangelista, Randy Stephens, Duane Bobick etc.?
What if his promoter Don King had decided to move Quarry slowly along following the Zanon bout against hand-picked opposition until meeting an Evangelista on the undercard of Holmes - Norton in June of '78? Could he have somehow done enough to earn his way into becoming Holmes first title defense like Evangelista was in November of '78?
Either way, it would have ended badly for Quarry. He'd have either lost along the way to that hypothetical title shot or been beaten badly by Holmes. But, I'm curious to know if anyone thinks that he could have gotten there. And, if so, how.

[Kalan]

I just rewatched the Jerry Quarry - Lorenzo Zanon bout for the first time since I originally saw it live back in November of 1977. And, it was pretty much just as I remembered it. Zanon gave Quarry a boxing lesson for the first seven rounds before Quarry shook off just enough rust to rally down the stretch & finish the Italian via the three knockdown rule in the ninth round. And, as we know, rather than continue his career he elected to retire again until making an ill-advised comeback as a cruiserweight in 1983.
Quarry won both of his bouts against mediocre opposition in that return, but he took a lot of punishment in the second bout against journeyman James Williams &once again decided against continuing his career. There was, of course, one further comeback nine years later in 1992 when a badly faded Quarry who was already suffering from the early stages of pugilistic dementia was beaten in a six round bout by a total nonentity. The less said about that criminal bout the better.
What I'd like to discuss here is the period immediately following the Zanon victory.
Had he elected to continue his career at that time, what do the rest of you think would have occurred?
After shaking off the two years of rust that he'd accumulated since his 1975 TKO loss to Ken Norton in the Zanon bout do you think that he'd have been able to compete with any of the heavyweights of the day?
Obviously, we know that he wouldn't have been able to hang with the best of the time like Norton, Jimmy Young, Larry Holmes, Earnie Shavers et al. But, what about the lower echelon men like Scott Ledoux, Alfredo Evangelista, Randy Stephens, Duane Bobick etc.?
What if his promoter Don King had decided to move Quarry slowly along following the Zanon bout against hand-picked opposition until meeting an Evangelista on the undercard of Holmes - Norton in June of '78? Could he have somehow done enough to earn his way into becoming Holmes first title defense like Evangelista was in November of '78?
Either way, it would have ended badly for Quarry. He'd have either lost along the way to that hypothetical title shot or been beaten badly by Holmes. But, I'm curious to know if anyone thinks that he could have gotten there. And, if so, how.

The Quarry story is one of the saddest in the annals of Boxing... Jerry had raw talent as a baseball player... Had he gone that direction he would have made the majors... He appeared in the Super Stars competition and won the batting contest by a mile.. He was terrible at every other event.. He had a great eye for reading the pitch and a super compact swing.. When he got good contact on the ball it just kept going.. Jerry hated Boxing but he loved the adulation..

His dad Jack pushed all the Quarry brothers into Boxing.. Jerry and Mike had the most talent for it, but they didn't love it.. What they liked is the respect and admiration of the fans and the thrill of victory. Beating people up is something they endured, but they didn't enjoy. Boxing can bring out animosity in people. Your trainer says. "Get this MFer out of there." You pick up his anger and go after him with a vengeance.. The anger lights you up and drives your punches with a brilliant fury.. You knock the guy dead and think, "This is not right. I'm not a savage." .... A lot of boxers are conflicted... If you feel that way you shouldn't do it... But it's very seductive and it's great money.

[BoxBuzz]

Kalan, I agree with every word you just wrote.

Whatever you're on.....keep it up and get some more.......you are showing improvement.

[Kalan]

You're not... You're as condescending and looney tunes as ever... Post on the content not on me.

It's hard to have discussions with people who don't have a thought in their head.

[oogiebe]

Quarry is one of the most interesting fighters to comp in other eras. He was unfortunate to be amongst a lot of great HW's during his career. while not an ATG< he was tough; determined; and really had a fighter's heart. The end came sadly as Kalan points out.

[Kalan]

I don't think there were that many "greats" in that era.... There were a great many super hittable Heavyweights in that era, but Ali drove the sport with personality... He was a colorful figure like Tyson, Dempsey, Johnson, and John L Sullivan.

With Anthony Joshua we're getting another personality who can raise the profile of Boxing...

AJ's not an American so this is going to be a little different.

[oogiebe]

I don't think there were that many "greats" in that era.... There were a great many super hittable Heavyweights in that era, but Ali drove the sport with personality... He was a colorful figure like Tyson, Dempsey, Johnson, and John L Sullivan.

With Anthony Joshua we're getting another personality who can raise the profile of Boxing...

AJ's not an American so this is going to be a little different.

Neither was Lewis, and he attracted fans globally. My favourte ATG. Not the best, but my favourite. I just want someone who will represent the belt(s) like a Lewis, Louis, Ali, Holmes, etc.

[SenorPipino]

Jerry Quarry was finished when he was bludgeoned by Frazier in June 1974.

Ken Norton put an exclamation point to Quarry's decline just 9 months later.

The Zanon fight was a disaster, despite Quarry pulling out a late win over the soft chinned Italian.

It's unlikely Quarry would have found success over even the fringe contenders the OP offered up.

He was a plodding, shot shell of a fighter by time he encountered Zanon.

To suggest that he might have been offered up as an eventual sacrifice to Holmes is criminal.

[oogiebe]

Jerry Quarry was finished when he was bludgeoned by Frazier in June 1974.

Ken Norton put an exclamation point to Quarry's decline just 9 months later.

The Zanon fight was a disaster, despite Quarry pulling out a late win over the soft chinned Italian.

It's unlikely Quarry would have found success over even the fringe contenders the OP offered up.

He was a plodding, shot shell of a fighter by time he encountered Zanon.

To suggest that he might have been offered up as an eventual sacrifice to Holmes is criminal.

I cannot figure out who you are responding to!

[DrDuke]

Jerry Quarry was finished when he was bludgeoned by Frazier in June 1974.

Ken Norton put an exclamation point to Quarry's decline just 9 months later.

The Zanon fight was a disaster, despite Quarry pulling out a late win over the soft chinned Italian.

It's unlikely Quarry would have found success over even the fringe contenders the OP offered up.

He was a plodding, shot shell of a fighter by time he encountered Zanon.

To suggest that he might have been offered up as an eventual sacrifice to Holmes is criminal.

Well, Norton fight still was good. I mean, Quarry had some success. Maybe he could have had more of it, if the ref hadn't done some controversial actions, when Jerry had staggered Ken and the ref had tried to break them up.

[Kalan]

Quarry wasn't doing a damned thing... He had no strength or nothing going for Norton.. Norton was a rock-hard 218 and did conditioning and strength training like everyday... Norton was one of the few boxers I've ever seen who was so conscious of his body.. He thought he was beautiful.. Foreman thought Norton was a punk... I don't think Foreman liked him or respected him... He said "I'm going to knock Norton's eyebrows and mustache off... He won't know which goes where."

I hated to see Quarry get into the ring unprepared... Jerry always seemed to be fight the worst he ever fought when he faced the best competition....especially the 2nd Ali and Frazier fights and Norton.

[oogiebe]

Quarry wasn't doing a damned thing... He had no strength or nothing going for Norton.. Norton was a rock-hard 218 and did conditioning and strength training like everyday... Norton was one of the few boxers I've ever seen who was so conscious of his body.. He thought he was beautiful.. Foreman thought Norton was a punk... I don't think Foreman liked him or respected him... He said "I'm going to knock Norton's eyebrows and mustache off... He won't know which goes where."

I hated to see Quarry get into the ring unprepared... Jerry always seemed to be fight the worst he ever fought when he faced the best competition....especially the 2nd Ali and Frazier fights and Norton.

Yup.

[sweetviolenturge]

Jerry Quarry was finished when he was bludgeoned by Frazier in June 1974.

Ken Norton put an exclamation point to Quarry's decline just 9 months later.

The Zanon fight was a disaster, despite Quarry pulling out a late win over the soft chinned Italian.

It's unlikely Quarry would have found success over even the fringe contenders the OP offered up.

He was a plodding, shot shell of a fighter by time he encountered Zanon.

To suggest that he might have been offered up as an eventual sacrifice to Holmes is criminal.

It wasn't my hope that Quarry would have continued his 1977 comeback at all. I certainly don't have that level of bloodlust. All I was doing was speculating about what would have happened had it continued. Obviously, as I said in my original post last night, it would have ended badly for Jerry but my speculation is about when & how it would have.
As for him being offered up as a sacrificial lamb of a first title challenger for Holmes reign, I wouldn't put that past, Don King, at all. Would you?
But, of course, it's highly unlikely that Quarry's comeback would have gotten that far.
While Quarry would likely have had enough left to beat the Ron Standers & Terry Daniels of the game in keep busy fights once he stepped to the level of a Ledoux or someone like that, he'd have been derailed. It's unlikely that he could have even beaten a journeyman opponent like Jodie Ballard at that point.

[Ambling Alp II]

Jerry Quarry was finished when he was bludgeoned by Frazier in June 1974.

Ken Norton put an exclamation point to Quarry's decline just 9 months later.

The Zanon fight was a disaster, despite Quarry pulling out a late win over the soft chinned Italian.

It's unlikely Quarry would have found success over even the fringe contenders the OP offered up.

He was a plodding, shot shell of a fighter by time he encountered Zanon.

To suggest that he might have been offered up as an eventual sacrifice to Holmes is criminal.

Well, Norton fight still was good. I mean, Quarry had some success. Maybe he could have had more of it, if the ref hadn't done some controversial actions, when Jerry had staggered Ken and the ref had tried to break them up.

The Norton fight had some good action. As usual Quarry came out strong. As was often the case, when he didn't put away his opponent early, he went into punching bag mode and the elite fighters stopped him. .Norton was much better than Quarry. The other top fighters (Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Holmes) had a lot of respect for Norton and spoke of him highly.

As for the original question, hard to say if he would have got past someone like Evangelista at that point.

[Kalan]

Jerry Quarry was finished when he was bludgeoned by Frazier in June 1974.

Ken Norton put an exclamation point to Quarry's decline just 9 months later.

The Zanon fight was a disaster, despite Quarry pulling out a late win over the soft chinned Italian.

It's unlikely Quarry would have found success over even the fringe contenders the OP offered up.

He was a plodding, shot shell of a fighter by time he encountered Zanon.

To suggest that he might have been offered up as an eventual sacrifice to Holmes is criminal.

Well, Norton fight still was good. I mean, Quarry had some success. Maybe he could have had more of it, if the ref hadn't done some controversial actions, when Jerry had staggered Ken and the ref had tried to break them up.

The Norton fight had some good action. As usual Quarry came out strong. As was often the case, when he didn't put away his opponent early, he went into punching bag mode and the elite fighters stopped him. .Norton was much better than Quarry. The other top fighters (Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Holmes) had a lot of respect for Norton and spoke of him highly.

As for the original question, hard to say if he would have got past someone like Evangelista at that point.

Hard to say if he would get past Alfredo Evangelista??? Is that going to be a big problem?

Lorenzo Zanon beat Evangelista... In fact Evangelista's last fight prior to getting a World Title shot at Muhammad Ali was a LOSS to Lorenzo Zanon... And after Quarry knocked Zanon out? -- Zanon beat Evangelista again...

Alfredo Evangelista was a terrible fighter... In fact Leon Spinks was quickly overpowered and knocked out in the 1st round by Gerrie Coetzee... But in Leon Spinks's next fight he battered Evangelista into a KO defeat in 5 rounds.

[oogiebe]

Bluntly put, Evangelista sucked. Journeyman at best.

[Ambling Alp II]

Evangesista was not very good. Saw him fight several times. However, we are talking about Quarry after fighting Zanon in 1977. He didn't have much left. He lost every round to Zanon until he stopped him only because Zanon had a glass jaw.

[sweetviolenturge]

See that's where I was going with this gentleman ( albeit in a long-winded way LOL ). Would the jaded Quarry of the post-Zanon fight have had enough left to beat an Evangelista? The same fighter that took Ali 15 rounds but who lost to Zanon on multiple occasions & struggled mightily to win a split-nod over Jodie Ballard ( which, along with his EBU title is what got him a second title shot vs Holmes ).
Despite saying earlier that I think that a Ballard might have been a bad match-up for Quarry at that point, I think that assuming that Quarry had shaken off rust vs Zanon that he'd have been able to beat Evangelista. As we know, Quarry had a very good record against European heavyweights.

[Kalan]

He sure as Hell got Jack Bodell out in a hurry.

[SenorPipino]

He sure as Hell got Jack Bodell out in a hurry.

Eh, Bodell was probably Brian London quality. Maybe not as good as prime London but around that level.

And London was quoted as saying "I was never a great fighter. I was just really really fit."