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Mac Foster RIP
Posted: 20 Jul 2010, 02:07
by Old bones Ian
Former big punching American heavy Mac Foster died on monday, he caused a stir when he turned pro winning his first 24 fights by KO, Jerry Quarry ended that run by Ko'ing him in 6.
He fought over here as well, losing on points to Joe Bugner.
He retired with a record of 30 wins 6 defeats, all his wins by way of KO.
http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_ ... &cat=boxer
Re: Mac Foster RIP
Posted: 20 Jul 2010, 02:53
by bennie
Mac was an animal who would have eaten the Klits alive - oh man, he would have blasted them back to Kiev in a box marked 'fragile'! He lost something after Quarry, who had the knack against big-hitting prospects (Lyle, Shavers), but kept his nose clean after his retirement, a class act.
Re: Mac Foster RIP
Posted: 20 Jul 2010, 03:33
by mickey1975
bennie wrote:Mac was an animal who would have eaten the Klits alive - oh man, he would have blasted them back to Kiev in a box marked 'fragile'! He lost something after Quarry, who had the knack against big-hitting prospects (Lyle, Shavers), but kept his nose clean after his retirement, a class act.
But you dont know that Bennie.You are biased towards boxers of the past.There is nothing fragile about Vitali,ask Lennox.
Re: Mac Foster RIP
Posted: 20 Jul 2010, 05:00
by DavidPayne
mickey1975 wrote:bennie wrote:Mac was an animal who would have eaten the Klits alive - oh man, he would have blasted them back to Kiev in a box marked 'fragile'! He lost something after Quarry, who had the knack against big-hitting prospects (Lyle, Shavers), but kept his nose clean after his retirement, a class act.
But you dont know that Bennie.You are biased towards boxers of the past.There is nothing fragile about Vitali,ask Lennox.
Thats the best Vitali fans can come up with - a six round stoppage defeat to Lennox when marginally ahead.
Re: Mac Foster RIP
Posted: 20 Jul 2010, 05:31
by dondada
Every win by KO? Santa Maria! RIP Mac.
Re: Mac Foster RIP
Posted: 20 Jul 2010, 05:37
by bennie
mickey1975 wrote:bennie wrote:Mac was an animal who would have eaten the Klits alive - oh man, he would have blasted them back to Kiev in a box marked 'fragile'! He lost something after Quarry, who had the knack against big-hitting prospects (Lyle, Shavers), but kept his nose clean after his retirement, a class act.
But you dont know that Bennie.You are biased towards boxers of the past.There is nothing fragile about Vitali,ask Lennox.
I'll ask out-of-shape golfer Corrie Sanders, a man who could whack but not like Foster. Mac's 24 straight knockouts (at the start of his career) put him up there with George Foreman, who blasted his way through 24 opponents between 1970 and The Rumble in the Jungle.
Foster, by the way, went 15 rounds with Ali in 1972 (only Ali would do 15 rounds in a non-title fight) and for a huge puncher was surprisingly durable. The never-say-die Quarry was the only man to stop him.
Re: Mac Foster RIP
Posted: 20 Jul 2010, 06:18
by mickey1975
DavidPayne wrote:mickey1975 wrote:bennie wrote:Mac was an animal who would have eaten the Klits alive - oh man, he would have blasted them back to Kiev in a box marked 'fragile'! He lost something after Quarry, who had the knack against big-hitting prospects (Lyle, Shavers), but kept his nose clean after his retirement, a class act.
But you dont know that Bennie.You are biased towards boxers of the past.There is nothing fragile about Vitali,ask Lennox.
Thats the best Vitali fans can come up with - a six round stoppage defeat to Lennox when marginally ahead.
Im not a Vitali fan,and i was commenting on the "fragile" tag.Fragile skin,fair enough,but he took some bombs that night.
Re: Mac Foster RIP
Posted: 20 Jul 2010, 06:34
by mickey1975
bennie wrote:mickey1975 wrote:bennie wrote:Mac was an animal who would have eaten the Klits alive - oh man, he would have blasted them back to Kiev in a box marked 'fragile'! He lost something after Quarry, who had the knack against big-hitting prospects (Lyle, Shavers), but kept his nose clean after his retirement, a class act.
But you dont know that Bennie.You are biased towards boxers of the past.There is nothing fragile about Vitali,ask Lennox.
I'll ask out-of-shape golfer Corrie Sanders, a man who could whack but not like Foster. Mac's 24 straight knockouts (at the start of his career) put him up there with George Foreman, who blasted his way through 24 opponents between 1970 and The Rumble in the Jungle.
Foster, by the way, went 15 rounds with Ali in 1972 (only Ali would do 15 rounds in a non-title fight) and for a huge puncher was surprisingly durable. The never-say-die Quarry was the only man to stop him.
I deliberately wrote Vitali.And i never saw Foster fight to be honest.I know Herbie Hide had a knockout run running into its 20's so do you think in generations to come that will put him up there in that company?Basically,its impossible to compare the different era's but when you do,the past always come out on top.RIP Mac
Re: Mac Foster RIP
Posted: 20 Jul 2010, 10:50
by bennie
Mac Foster, lethal-punching heavyweight of the division's golden era, passed away yesterday morning in his hometown of Fresno, California, of heart failure. He was 68.
Foster is one of a small and select number of heavies, Joe Louis, Sonny Liston and Mike Tyson among them, who instilled real fear into his opponents as he racked up knockout after knockout in the late 1960s. It is difficult today to convey just how feared Mac was in those heady days of Ali and Frazier and seemingly a million contenders, but think of Mike Spinks prior to his mauling at the hands of Tyson and you will get the picture.
Foster flattened an ageing Liston in sparring at Dick Sadler's gym in California in 1968 and his paid victims included Cleveland "Big Cat" Williams (twice), Thad Spencer, Zora Folley (floored six times), Jack O'Halloran (of Superman fame), Roger Rischer, Roy "Cookie" Wallace and Hubert Hilton. Foster blazed his way to 24-0 (24) - 17 of those wins inside three rounds - before Jerry Quarry, the Irishman who could beat anyone outside the top three, survived an early pounding and floored and hammered Foster in the sixth round of a big fight at Madison Square Garden in June 1970. The fight should have been stopped sooner but referee Johnny LoBianco, later to mess up in Duran-Buchanan, allowed Foster to take a number of brutal shots too many and gone forever was Mac's aura of invincibility.
Foster came back to secure a date with Ali, rebuilding from the first Frazier fight and remarkably disregarded at home, and was outsmarted over 15 rounds in Tokyo in April 1972, after which he popped up infrequently for the payday and served as George Foreman's sparring partner before retiring in 1976 with a record of 30-6, all his wins by knockout. Only Quarry ever stopped him.
Foster really was born at the wrong time, shipped over to Vietnam for two tours prior to his boxing career and shot in the legs in an ambush. He received a Purple heart and then joined an entire legion of heavyweights, Doug Jones, Ernie Terrell, Eddie Machen, Leotis Martin, Ken Norton, Ron Lyle, Bill McMurray (the man who delayed the Ali-Foreman rumble), Jeff Merritt (Don King's first signing) and Amos "Big Train" Lincoln, pursuing the top men. Former bantamweight pro Rick Farris said of the Quarry-Foster hinger, "Jerry was at his best that night. I could always tell in the first moments of a Quarry fight what to expect. Jerry had this loose coolness about him when he was right. It was more than confidence, it was a certainty."
Farris was later also privy to Foster and his modest, unassuming personality. "I'll never forget what a truly nice man the big heavyweight was," said Rick yesterday.
Re: Mac Foster RIP
Posted: 20 Jul 2010, 10:53
by DavidPayne
Thanks Bennie.
Re: Mac Foster RIP
Posted: 20 Jul 2010, 12:50
by McCannW14
bennie wrote:Mac Foster, lethal-punching heavyweight of the division's golden era, passed away yesterday morning in his hometown of Fresno, California, of heart failure. He was 68.
Foster is one of a small and select number of heavies, Joe Louis, Sonny Liston and Mike Tyson among them, who instilled real fear into his opponents as he racked up knockout after knockout in the late 1960s. It is difficult today to convey just how feared Mac was in those heady days of Ali and Frazier and seemingly a million contenders, but think of Mike Spinks prior to his mauling at the hands of Tyson and you will get the picture.
Foster flattened an ageing Liston in sparring at Dick Sadler's gym in California in 1968 and his paid victims included Cleveland "Big Cat" Williams (twice), Thad Spencer, Zora Folley (floored six times), Jack O'Halloran (of Superman fame), Roger Rischer, Roy "Cookie" Wallace and Hubert Hilton. Foster blazed his way to 24-0 (24) - 17 of those wins inside three rounds - before Jerry Quarry, the Irishman who could beat anyone outside the top three, survived an early pounding and floored and hammered Foster in the sixth round of a big fight at Madison Square Garden in June 1970. The fight should have been stopped sooner but referee Johnny LoBianco, later to mess up in Duran-Buchanan, allowed Foster to take a number of brutal shots too many and gone forever was Mac's aura of invincibility.
Foster came back to secure a date with Ali, rebuilding from the first Frazier fight and remarkably disregarded at home, and was outsmarted over 15 rounds in Tokyo in April 1972, after which he popped up infrequently for the payday and served as George Foreman's sparring partner before retiring in 1976 with a record of 30-6, all his wins by knockout. Only Quarry ever stopped him.
Foster really was born at the wrong time, shipped over to Vietnam for two tours prior to his boxing career and shot in the legs in an ambush. He received a Purple heart and then joined an entire legion of heavyweights, Doug Jones, Ernie Terrell, Eddie Machen, Leotis Martin, Ken Norton, Ron Lyle, Bill McMurray (the man who delayed the Ali-Foreman rumble), Jeff Merritt (Don King's first signing) and Amos "Big Train" Lincoln, pursuing the top men. Former bantamweight pro Rick Farris said of the Quarry-Foster hinger, "Jerry was at his best that night. I could always tell in the first moments of a Quarry fight what to expect. Jerry had this loose coolness about him when he was right. It was more than confidence, it was a certainty."
Farris was later also privy to Foster and his modest, unassuming personality. "I'll never forget what a truly nice man the big heavyweight was," said Rick yesterday.
A nice touch Bennie. Much appreciated.
Re: Mac Foster RIP
Posted: 20 Jul 2010, 14:55
by bennie
You're welcome, Peter. Here are a couple of shots of the Jerry Quarry disaster. You get an impression of the sheer size of Foster in them, a big, burly presence to anyone but Quarry. LoBianco is all over the place.
