I can't decide this one, probably because I wouldn't want Jerry to lose and think that might be the case.
I've watched a lot of Quarry fights recently...M.Foster, Lyle, Ali 2, Frazier 1, J.Alexander, Shavers, Patterson 2, Miteff, and one thing I noticed is that even if Quarry is ahead and doing well, he still has defensive lapses and gets hit hard. That would be a serious problem in a fight with Ruddock. Glad this fight couldn't happen in real life, Quarry took too much punishment in the fights he had. I don't see any version of Quarry beating Ruddock, but the young, 193 pound, 21 year old that fought Miteff would probably do better than the older verisons.
Jerry Quarry caught a second wind in 1973 and beat five men that year including Earnie Shavers and Ron Lyle. A few years prior to that he also handled big hard hitting men in Mac Foster and Buster Mathis. While I can certainly see Ruddock ending this thing with a few smash lefts, I’m not convinced that he has a guaranteed win here.
Great matchup of styles. I think Quarry may get hurt and taken out. Quarry was a great boxer and could outpoint Ruddock and even hurt him. This would be a superb match with Quarry in a give and take for 8 to 9 rounds. Then he starts to wilt under the power, and end up in a corner with his team throwing in the towel. Quarry if he boxed could win easy, but Quarry never does anything the easy way His penchant for fighting while hurt will cost him in this one.
I like Quarry. He did well against big one dimensional guys and that’s by and large what Ruddock was. Razor had big power but Quarry had some chin (enough to absorb what Earnie Shavers, Mac Foster and Ron Lyle could dish out) and some great counter punching skills that he could find an avenue for with Razors propensity to load up and those single left hand half hook/half uppercuts. Not to discount Razor either. As mentioned Jerry could be defensively careless and the Irish in him could get the better of him and cause him to get wild and sloppy when he didn’t have to (think the Joe Alexander fight). If that happens then Ruddock could hurt him bad. At their best I think Quarry produces a Boxingforum24 upset over Razor. Not quite as big an upset as anyone beating David Tua but pretty close.
This was a great post. I am switching my stance. Quarry was a counterpuncher specialist, and Ruddock was sloppy. You are spot on with the breakdown, helluv a fight either way. Quarry by a upset sounds reasonable.
Thanks mate. It’s a real 50/50 I think largely dependent on Quarry. If he fought to his strengths then he could cause Razor real fits as although smaller he was a flat out better fighter but if he got wild and careless then he was there to be hurt and Ruddock could hurt anyone. These fantasy matchups are presumably best vs best versions of each hence why I’d favour Jerry. But I’m a big Quarry fan too so I may be biased.
Quarry has a real chance to win a decision , also to get ko'ed. I lean towards Quarry 55-45 in a fight I'd never bet on.
Excellent point about Quarry's defense, and how even in fights he wins he gets hit A LOT Even against Shavers, the commentator noted Shavers was landing a lot on Quarry. His lack of defense contributed to his later life health issues.
The young Quarry would beat the Ruddock who had gone power mad . Quarry would get to Razor I think and ko him. The razor who boxes might do better.
