BoxRec

because of his losses to frazier and ali, he seems to not get mentioned in the upper decks of the heavyweight division. but IMO he was a top 30 heavyweight of all time. i defintley think jerry quarry is in the top 5 best heavyweight contenders never to win a world title. this guy was unlucky for his only title shot to be against a peak frazier(who quarry gave a tough fight too). he had his 2nd oppertunity for a title shot against george foreman, but for some reason foreman didnt want to fight quarry. quarry was coming off some huge wins and his confidence was at its peak, but foreman never gave him the title shot. foreman once said that he was afraid of jerry quarry, that quarry had a bad style matchup for him. i agree, foreman would have had a very tough time taking out the very durable loads of heart jerry quarry outta there and could have tired himself out. not only would quarry take some of foremans bombs but he would be dealing out a licking himself to george. i can see a huge upset happening. quarry matched up very well vs the big powerful sluggers, and if foreman doesnt put him away before 5, i can see quarry stopping foreman late. unlike a ali or frazier, foreman wasnt a sharp cutting like puncher so i cant see foreman cutting up quarry to the point of the ref stopping the fight.


George foreman said: "Had he punched with Ellis and boxed Frazier, he would have been champion. When I was heavyweight champion of the world, I purposely dodged him."


jerry quarry looks excellent on film. by far the best white heavyweight since rocky marciano. quarry has good underated boxing skills, good upperbody movement, underated jab, very strong, good footwork, very good underated power, solid defense, excellent chin, alot of heart, great stamina, tiger like killer instinct when he has the man hurt, very muscular 6'0 200lb. the only major flaw in quarry was his tendency to cut.



quarry also has an excellent win resume


he beat


near prime floyd patterson- pattersons top 20 heavyweight of all time. both fights were close, i thought patterson won them but they werent highway robberies. quarry also knocked patterson down in both fights which would have helped him a lot under modern scoring.


6'0 210lb earnie shavers- shavers is argueably top 40 heavyweight of all time. shavers is the hardest hitter in heavweight history and was at his peak going into the quarry fight. shavers was DEMOLISHED IN ONE ROUND. quarry completley annihlated shavers. quarry walked right through a beast of a heavyweight and slaughtered him. quarry also took some of shavers best shots in the first minute of the fight.



6'2 210lb mac foster- huge chizzled intimdating foster is one of the hardest hitting heavyweights of all time. he was undefeated and at his peak going into the quarry fight. my dad who covered some of the 1970s boxing believes mac foster hit just as hard as foreman. quary dominated foster knocking him out in 6 rounds as well as taking a flush foster right hand in the 3rd round and staying on his feet. another dominating win over a big powerfu favored contender who was supposed to knock quarry out. preformances like these and winning as a underdog really helps his legacy.


6'1 200lb thad spencer- spencer was at the peak of his career coming off a shutout win over highly rated ernie terell. spencer was the favorite and # 2 rated in the world at the time. spencer was a joe louis wannabe and had a similar style too him, some of the press were even comparing spencer to the brown bomber after spencer annihlated ernie terell. quarry dominated spencer stopping him with 1 second left in the 12th round


6'3 235lb buster mathis- mathis in his prime lost to only two men, quarry and frazier. mathis at his peak was a very good boxer. he had a lot of skills for a big man. mathis was 29-1 coming into the quarry fight and had fought a peak joe frazier 11 even rounds before being stopped. quarry dominated mathis winning nearly every round of there fight and putting on a great display of boxing skills.

6'4 220lb ron lyle- lyles arguebally a top 40 heavweight of all time. lyle was one of the best contenders never to win a world title. lyle was a huge powerful puncher with skills , and also very strong. lyle used to do 1000 pushups a day while in prison. quarry put on the boxing display of his life dominating the undefeated highly favored contender and winning a 12 round shutout decision.




- quarry never did reach the top but he never got that final title chance against foreman like he should have to prove himself


quarry unfortunetly had to go up agaisnt a peak frazier in his first title shot, and then in his 2nd one he decided to fight the worst fight of his life and have a off night at the worst time and lost the vacant WBA title to jimmy ellis. quarry made it to the finals of a very competitive WBA tourney( a accomlishment in itself) but did not let his hands go at all like in other fights and dropped a close decision to jimmy ellis. quarry looked very lethargic and flat in the ellis fight. ellis was a very excellent boxer in his own right too.



- his only other bad loss on his resume, george chuvalo, was controversial. quarry dominated chuvalo the first 6 rounds winning every round and then chuvalo knocked him down with a right hand in the 7th. quarry sat on the canvas(totally fine) just waiting till the ref said 9 so he could get up but quarry couldnt hear the ref late in the count and got up 1 second too late. quarry was fine ready to go on but because of a misunderstanding he got up too late. jack blackburn said "take the full count, u cant get up fast enough they dont know u was down". well this was one case where it came back to bite jerry in the ass! he was fine ready to go on he would have clearly outpointed chuvalo. but he screwed himself.
outside of those 2 losses, quarry had a excellent record and only lost when he stepped up to ATG class.

- his loss to norton was when he was far past his prime and taking the fight as a late sub. quarry was suffering from hand injuries....he look soft. basically quarry was washed up. yet he still did well the first 3 rounds before running out of gas and from there he took a complete pummeling.




so as far as accomplishments go.......


- quarry finished 2nd WBA elimation tourney

- was a top contender in the toughest era in heayweight history

- beat top 20 heavyweight of all time and two top 50 heavyweights of all time

- was likely avoided by george foreman

- was an all around complete fighter on film. also possesed the heart of a true champion

- won alot of big fights where he went in as a big underdog


i believe quarry deserves mention in top 30 heavyweights of all time. he has the resume and he looks good enough on film to be place there. at his peak, he was a very tough fighter to beat if u didnt cut him.



I RATE JERRY QUARRY # 26 GREATEST HEAVYWEIGHT OF ALL TIME



http://www.antekprizering.com/quarrysp.jpeg






* i also think a prime quarry knocks ken norton out. jerry quarry once knocked out ken norton in sparring shortly before ali-norton I. Norton was about 30% as effective of a fighter backing up vs. going forwards and he is a guy that has to be on his top form to beat the guy. When kenny got backed up he was the loser every time. He even looked terrible against mediocre guys like cobb and ledoux because of this. A peak Quarry would force norton back and this would kill nortons momentum and game plan. quarry was an underated puncher....he has the firepower to get ken out of there. i think quarry would wear norton down and stop him in the mid-late rounds. norton was always phycologically beat.....he needed a hypnotist to convince him he could beat fighters. jerry quarry was an animal.....he went out there to win every fight!

I didn't even read this and I'm sure a lot of other people won't either, since there already is a thread about it here that you've been posting on also: http://www.boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=48321

Norton beat Quarry fair and square

evndrbsn wrote:I didn't even read this and I'm sure a lot of other people won't either, since there already is a thread about it here that you've been posting on also: http://www.boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=48321

Norton beat Quarry fair and square

Larry Holmes beat muhammad ali fair and square too

Tale of the tape stats indicate that Quarry's had 14 inch fists.

I think a Foreman-Quarry fight would be alot like the 1976 Foreman-Lyle fight. Plenty of knock downs, both fighters brawling non-stop, a true fight to the finish. I think Quarry had a little bit more than what Lyle did, and would have gave Foreman some major fits in the ring. A Quarry upset is not really out of the question.

Jerry Quarry in his day received a great deal of notoriety. I remember as a kid seeing his fights on tv and hearing what a hot prospect he was and how he had an excellent chance to go places. So if you were around at that time he was pretty much a household name and at that time not underated at all. Over time his memory faded somewhat and he is not mentioned all that much with the all time greats. I remember right after he died and a good freind of his was being interviewed, his freind said "Jerry was a good fighter but not a great one."

What detracts a bit from his acomplishments was not so much his losses to Ali, but the fact he was never really in either fight and landed very few punches. He fought a couple of game battles with Joe Fraizier but was not close to winning either fight. Was stopped by tough but unspectacular George Chuavalo, fought some draws with beatable opponents earlier in his career. Don't want to get into an argument that he was green because he had a good amature career and should have been prepared.

You could make the argument that he fought in a tough era and that he would fair well against todays heaveyweights and maybe he would. Given the fact he was a highly recognised fighter in his day it would be a tough sell to say he was vastly underated. Most fighters who don't win a championship end up not being remembered as much as those who do however. And it is not like he has been forgotten, I think most boxing fans remember Quarry as a solid contender with some good wins who was a step down from the greats and that is what he proved to be.

IrishRufusMurphy wrote:I think a Foreman-Quarry fight would be alot like the 1976 Foreman-Lyle fight. Plenty of knock downs, both fighters brawling non-stop, a true fight to the finish. I think Quarry had a little bit more than what Lyle did, and would have gave Foreman some major fits in the ring. A Quarry upset is not really out of the question.

Prime Quarry v Foreman I would expect to be more like Lyle v Quarry, which was a masterful display of counterpunching. Perhaps Quarry's best fight.

I grew up and became a boxing fan just as Quarry came on the scene, so I may be a bit biased in his favor. It’s hard to disagree with any of the posts so far, as I do agree that Quarry was very highly regarded and publicized during his career (I would love to see his guest shot on I Dream of Jeannie again). But he may also be abit under rated today, as many who didn’t grow up in that era just look at a few of his losses without taking them into perspective.

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:…i agree, foreman would have had a very tough time taking out the very durable loads of heart jerry quarry outta there and could have tired himself out. not only would quarry take some of foremans bombs but he would be dealing out a licking himself to george. i can see a huge upset happening.

I agree completely with this. I remember as Quarry’s career wound down, most of the media of the day would say that he was a very good HW, but not quite good enough to beat the top guys like Ali, Frazier and Foreman. But I think his performance against Lyle was probably a good example of what a prime well prepared Quarry could have done with George if he had been given the chance. Lyle and Foreman were very similar, and Quarry handled Lyle quite easily.

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:- his only other bad loss on his resume, george chuvalo, was controversial.

Not sure I agree this was actually controversial. A better description would be unfortunate, as Quarry just blew it.

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:- his loss to norton was when he was far past his prime and taking the fight as a late sub. quarry was suffering from hand injuries....he look soft. basically quarry was washed up. yet he still did well the first 3 rounds before running out of gas and from there he took a complete pummeling.

I don’t think Quarry was completely washed up at the time of this fight, but was clearly on the decline. The bigger problem for Quarry, as you noted, was the fact he took the fight on very little notice and was clearly not properly prepared. Perhaps like the Chuvalo fight, this was more just an example of terrible judgment or poor career management.

I think a fair comparison with Quarry losing to Ken Norton and being past his prime would be Quarry fighting a past his prime Floyd Patterson. Quarry was knocked out in convincing fasion against Norton but when Quarry fought a past his prime floyd Patterson who had been through all the wars and was older than Quarry when he fought Norton, the result was one draw and Quarry winning a razor thin magority decsision that could have gone either way.

kick asner wrote:I think a fair comparison with Quarry losing to Ken Norton and being past his prime would be Quarry fighting a past his prime Floyd Patterson. Quarry was knocked out in convincing fasion against Norton but when Quarry fought a past his prime floyd Patterson who had been through all the wars and was older than Quarry when he fought Norton, the result was one draw and Quarry winning a razor thin magority decsision that could have gone either way.

Good reasoning, except for the fact that Patterson didn’t take either Quarry fight on about 10 days notice. That is a HUGE obstacle to overcome, and one that very few top fighters would have even attempted. But Quarry was a real fighter. Of course, his judgment may not have been good at all times, but he certainly didn’t back down from anyone.

And BTW, the Norton fight was a TKO. I don’t recall Quarry ever hitting the deck. He actually had an excellent chin.

The Great John L wrote:Prime Quarry v Foreman I would expect to be more like Lyle v Quarry, which was a masterful display of counterpunching. Perhaps Quarry's best fight.

Foreman bludgeons Quarry. Lyle doesnt bring the same heat Big George does.

The Great John L wrote:
And BTW, the Norton fight was a TKO. I don’t recall Quarry ever hitting the deck. He actually had an excellent chin.

Quarry had freakishly hard head. But ref definitely right to stop fight. Norton was marmalising JQ. Shoulda never come back after that, would still be alive today.

overhand_right wrote:

The Great John L wrote:
And BTW, the Norton fight was a TKO. I don’t recall Quarry ever hitting the deck. He actually had an excellent chin.

Quarry had freakishly hard head. But ref definitely right to stop fight. Norton was marmalising JQ. Shoulda never come back after that, would still be alive today.

I agree. There was definitely no issue with the stoppage of that fight, except maybe it went a minute or two too long. Not sure about whether his post Norton career was what caused the dementia, but he did take some shots during his career.

"And BTW, the Norton fight was a TKO."

Sometimes I just use the word knockout as an all encompassing term to indicate the fighter was stopped not taking into account that it was a TKO. In the future I will try and catch myself from doing that and specify as to which it was. I suppose by saying knockout it leaves the impression the man was out cold which may not have been the case in many instances.

The Great John L wrote: I agree. There was definitely no issue with the stoppage of that fight, except maybe it went a minute or two too long. Not sure about whether his post Norton career was what caused the dementia, but he did take some shots during his career.

He seemed lucid & together in his post-Norton career as an announcer although obviously pugilistic dementia tends to creep in years later. HOWEVER if you read up on his changes in manner & general demeaner after each of his comeback fights in the early 80s, particuarly his split decision over James Williamson where he got banged up pretty bad, these seem to be detrimental in the extreme. Quarry was pretty much a sleepy ghost from the day after Ron Kramer pounded him to the day he died.

i think patterson was at/near his prime when he fought jerry quarry. patterson became a better fighter in the mid 1960s

quarry beat the shit out of chuvalo. chuvalo was lucky. quarry simply misread the count. he was fine. he would have gone on to outpoint chuvalo.

I wouldnt really say that Quarry was underrated, plenty of people wax lyrical about how great he was and don't get me wrong he was an outstanding fighter but he was also flawed and erratic and this aspect of him has to be taken into account when ranking him as a fighter... a really underrated fighter from Quarrys era is a man who destroyed him twice, Joe Frazier... who doesnt get half the credit he deserves in my opinion... if Quarry was unlucky to be around during the Ali era Frazier was equally unlucky to around with Ali and Foreman as in any other era he would have been a dominant champion for a long time...

Decagon wrote:

Cojimar 1945 wrote:Tale of the tape stats indicate that Quarry's had 14 inch fists.

Quarry once said that he never saw a tale of the tape of his that was right.

kick asner wrote:"And BTW, the Norton fight was a TKO."

Sometimes I just use the word knockout as an all encompassing term to indicate the fighter was stopped not taking into account that it was a TKO. In the future I will try and catch myself from doing that and specify as to which it was. I suppose by saying knockout it leaves the impression the man was out cold which may not have been the case in many instances.

In general, I don't differentiate the two unless the stop was on cuts. If a guy's knocked unconscious with a single punch, and the ref doesn't bother counting to 10, what's the difference if it's a TKO? Norton-Quarry wasn't a fight where Quarry was winning, but he got cut by a punch; Norton beat the shit out of him.

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:quarry beat the shit out of chuvalo. chuvalo was lucky. quarry simply misread the count. he was fine. he would have gone on to outpoint chuvalo.

... yet you defend Dempsey's KO of Sharkey, which was on a foul. Simply put, Chuvalo put Quarry down for the count of 10. What was he supposed to do? Write him a letter?

I agree with Mr Decagon here, the times I've heard excuses for Quarrys loss to Chuvalo... I've got the fight and to say Quarry was beating the shit out of George is wildly inaccurate... it was just about an even fight till George caught Jerry with a good punch and Jerry went down and didnt beat the count! end of!... thats boxing!... if Jerry had been 'fine' then he would have been able to follow the count... also I never saw Quarry too eager for a rematch to put things right....

quarry beat the shit out of chuvalo. chuvalo was lucky. quarry simply misread the count. he was fine. he would have gone on to outpoint chuvalo.

Yeah, this is a weak argument. Quarry wasnt exactley knocking him from pillar to post. And whose to say Chuvalo wouldnt have knocked him down several more times in the fight and eventually stopped him anyway?

theone wrote:

quarry beat the shit out of chuvalo. chuvalo was lucky. quarry simply misread the count. he was fine. he would have gone on to outpoint chuvalo.

Yeah, this is a weak argument. Quarry wasnt exactley knocking him from pillar to post. And whose to say Chuvalo wouldnt have knocked him down several more times in the fight and eventually stopped him anyway?

Chuvalo did stop him fair and square, if Quarry wasnt hurt why didnt he bounce right up?... why did he take a count?.... the reason is because he was hurt and he that why he didnt follow the count properly. One thing that gets me about Quarry is the excuses that people come up with for his losses... he fought Frazier the wrong way, he was shot against Norton, he was robbed against Chuvalo... truth is he just wasnt good enough in these fights and lost...

silkov wrote:Chuvalo did stop him fair and square, if Quarry wasnt hurt why didnt he bounce right up?... why did he take a count?.... the reason is because he was hurt and he that why he didnt follow the count properly. One thing that gets me about Quarry is the excuses that people come up with for his losses... he fought Frazier the wrong way, he was shot against Norton, he was robbed against Chuvalo... truth is he just wasnt good enough in these fights and lost...

Yes you are correct in your statements, except I would like to point out that most don't say that Quarry was shot when fought Norton, but that he wasn't properly prepared. And this isn't an excuse, simply a possible explanation of why he came in so soft and heavy and was spent after 3 rounds.

So I guess there's no reason to disregard Ali's losses to Spinks, Holmes and Berbick when rating him historically? Or Norton's loss to Cooney and draw with LeDoux ? Or how about Fraziers draw with Jumbo Cummings? Are we to assume that Fraziers legacy should be tarnished by this performance? I certainly hope not. But to simply look at Quarry's losing to Norton when taking the fight on about 10 days notice and saying that may prove that Norton was a better fighter than Norton just doesn't add up. Norton may have been a better fighter than Quarry, but if you watch the fight, Quarry did quite good in the first 3 rounds before getting gassed. Logic would indicate that this could have been a result of Quarry taking the fight on short notice and it's perfectly reasonable to think that a better prepared Quarry would have done better.

Quarry was a very good HW, who fought the best, beat a few and lost to a few. The fact he lost to Chuvalo, Frazier, Ali and Norton just indicates why he had a few losses in his career. He fought everybody and never avoided a fight. Even a top ranked HW like Norton on about 10 days notice. Now look at Norton's resume. Looks a bit thin compared to Quarry's doesn't it? You could say the same about most ATG HWs as well.

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:quarry beat the shit out of chuvalo. chuvalo was lucky. quarry simply misread the count. he was fine. he would have gone on to outpoint chuvalo.

Brock,
Quarry missed the count because George hung one on him. You make it sound like it was because the guy was hard of hearing. If Quarry could stay 15 with George he wins it. He was a sharper puncher & more skilled than George. George was tougher both mentally & physically. Both
were prone to cuts. I don't think either quits, but George had greater stamina, and was more durable. George won it fair & square.

as to the original statement of this thread. I would agree....since he never attained a championship his good work is likely under appreciated. He was a remarkable fighter with an interesting story and sad outcome in his third act.

The Great John L wrote:

silkov wrote:Chuvalo did stop him fair and square, if Quarry wasnt hurt why didnt he bounce right up?... why did he take a count?.... the reason is because he was hurt and he that why he didnt follow the count properly. One thing that gets me about Quarry is the excuses that people come up with for his losses... he fought Frazier the wrong way, he was shot against Norton, he was robbed against Chuvalo... truth is he just wasnt good enough in these fights and lost...

Yes you are correct in your statements, except I would like to point out that most don't say that Quarry was shot when fought Norton, but that he wasn't properly prepared. And this isn't an excuse, simply a possible explanation of why he came in so soft and heavy and was spent after 3 rounds.

So I guess there's no reason to disregard Ali's losses to Spinks, Holmes and Berbick when rating him historically? Or Norton's loss to Cooney and draw with LeDoux ? Or how about Fraziers draw with Jumbo Cummings? Are we to assume that Fraziers legacy should be tarnished by this performance? I certainly hope not. But to simply look at Quarry's losing to Norton when taking the fight on about 10 days notice and saying that may prove that Norton was a better fighter than Norton just doesn't add up. Norton may have been a better fighter than Quarry, but if you watch the fight, Quarry did quite good in the first 3 rounds before getting gassed. Logic would indicate that this could have been a result of Quarry taking the fight on short notice and it's perfectly reasonable to think that a better prepared Quarry would have done better.

Quarry was a very good HW, who fought the best, beat a few and lost to a few. The fact he lost to Chuvalo, Frazier, Ali and Norton just indicates why he had a few losses in his career. He fought everybody and never avoided a fight. Even a top ranked HW like Norton on about 10 days notice. Now look at Norton's resume. Looks a bit thin compared to Quarry's doesn't it? You could say the same about most ATG HWs as well.

Well the difference is that Quarry was only 29 when he fought Norton while Ali was 36 against Spinks and 40 against Berbick... I wouldnt say there was that much difference between the Quarry who beat LYLE and the Quarry who lost to Norton aside from his conditioning... and at the end of the day it was his decision to take the fight with Norton at such short notice... yes he wasnt 100% by any means but I think even a peak Quarry would have had trouble with Norton... also Norton fought Ali (3times) young, Foreman, Shavers, Holmes, ...so how you can say his record is thin of names is beyond me!....