Jerry Quarry deserves to be ranked higher than Ken Norton in an atg list

Beating Ali once and arguably 3 times is massive, something Quarry, Lyle and Foster weren't close to doing. Beating and going very close with Holmes also elevates Norton to quite high levels. Quarry was past prime when Norton got to him but it was still a good win when you looked at how Norton dominated him. You could argue aside from that and the blow out losses his resume lacks depth, although the Bobick win was pretty big at the time and Middleton/Stander/Garcia/Clark/Kirkman were decent fringe contenders.

For me Norton is top25, Quarry top40

 

Close call.

I can see a case for either man.

Their actual meeting isn't much of a guage considering Quarry's decline.

Norton: Ali, Young, Bobick, and Clark.
losses: Ali, Foreman, Holmes, and Shavers.

Quarry: Patterson, Spencer, Shaver, Lye, and Foster.
losses: Ali, Frazier, Ellis, and Chuvalo.

 

for 6 minutes in his life quarry was the best heavyweight in the world.

norton held the title, and won against arguably the best heavyweight of all time.

they should be ranked at a similar level. but with norton slightly above. when they met quarry was finished.




im actually stumped, dont know what to think.

 

OT why did Norton consider Quarry a racist so much so he wanted to give him a bad beating before they fought?

 

In Norton's own words in "Going the Distance" he makes no mention of racism. Instead he said "I admit feely that I don't like him. I wanted him to be carried out in a stretcher." Bill Slayton even said Norton got angry when he gave Quarry a hug. He really doesn't seem to provide much of an explantion other than he was angry he had to fight Quarry to get another shot at Ali. He also mentions Quarry being considered a "white hope" and "best white heavy" which might have upset him but hardly Jerry's fault.

[url]http://books.google.com/books?id=J_dlbrAHB4cC&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97&dq=Ken+Norton+Jerry+Quarry+1975+race&source=bl&ots=QiFsibkzCZ&sig=gXjxvhYCMaYiz5VI2ByPq4wxvRU&hl=en&ei=3C64TaKbM8TagQfm4IVn&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false[/url]

 

I don't see how you can honestly rank Quarry above Norton. Norton went 1-2 vs. Ali but a case can be made that he should have went 3-0... at least 2-1. All 3 of his fights with Ali were close. Quarry was totally dominated and stopped by Ali x2.

Norton also beat Young (WSD15) who had beat Foreman and Lyle x2, lost a disputed decision to Ali, and had a draw vs. Shavers (in their rematch) in recent fights. Big win for Norton.

Norton also dominated and stopped Quarry in 5 rounds when they fought each other. I will admit that this was not the best ever version of Quarry but it's pretty much how any fight between these 2 would look in my opinion.

He lost by SD to Holmes while slightly past prime as well.

 

He took the Norton fight on 18 days notice, was overweight and not doing any kind of training, and bad into drugs/booze at the time. You just can't use this fight to guage much of anything.

 

Mac not Bob Foster, a good win at the time as was the Lyle, Mathis and Spencer wins but I agree that the Ali, Young and Holmes wins easily top Jerry's best. BTW I consider the Middleton win one of Quarry's best.

 

As much as I respect Quarry,I rank Norton higher. Ken's biggest victory outshines Jerry's. A 1973 Muhammad Ali was still an exceedingly dangerous fighter. As out of shape as Muhammad was,he was in his best condition since 1967,in their rematch six months later,and Norton ran Muhammad very close. Ken also has a victory over a prime Jimmy Young on his CV. Both Ali and Young are better than anyone Jerry beat. What puts it into perspective,imo,is that one year after beating,and losing minimally to Ali,Muhammad beat George Foreman,to regain the crown.

 

About right. I'd still back Ken to beat a prime Jerry.

 

True... but win, lose, or draw it was a good performance by Norton. Beating Young was a big deal at that time. As a matter of fact it was probably the most important win anybody ever had over Young IMO (Ocasio's wins over Young led to good things for him as well).

I say this because leading up to to their fight you can make a case that Young should have went 5-0 vs. the likes of Shavers (their rematch), Lyle x2, Ali, and Foreman in recent fights. Young was considered one of the best HWs at the time. Norton's win over Young resulted in him being proclaimed the WBC HW Champion.

The fight was close for sure but I felt Norton deserved the win. A rematch would have been interesting. What if Norton would have defended against Young before his fight with Holmes?