Did Foreman duck Quarry

The Shavers fight was an anamoly, accept that; not that Jerry couldn't have beaten a rather green Shavers anyway at the time. (don't trowel out his 30+ fights prior), he'd never faced a top contender.
At that time, with all his wars (I loved Quarry), barely three months later, he was almost KTFO in the 1st round by journeyman Joe Alexander and, four months later, was almost permanately damaged by Frazier (actually that fight may have been the beginning of Jerry's woes; did you see the (4th?) round left hook that put Jerry on pre-damage ***** street?)
And Foreman could jab (Chuvalo was jabbing Quarry for pete's sake!)
Quarry could never beat George and would have been stopped early.

 

I don't think George Foreman was maneuvered around Quarry to the number-one spot in 1972 at all.

Quarry was owned by Ali in June 1972. Quarry didn't deserve a number-one ranking (or a title shot for that matter in 1972). Ali stopped Quarry twice in a two-year period. The June 1972 beating Ali delivered was particularly one-sided.

If anyone had a gripe about Foreman getting a shot at Frazier in January 1973, it was Ali. It certainly wasn't Jerry Quarry.

When Ron Lyle fought Larry Middleton in December 1972, Joe Frazier's top three contenders were: Foreman, Ali and Jimmy Ellis. Lyle and Middleton were moved up to the four and five contender spots one week before their fight (which Lyle won). Quarry hadn't fought in six months since Ali mopped the floor with him.

Frazier did consider a fight with the undefeated Lyle. Joe even fought on an exhibition on the Lyle-Mathis card in September 1972. But, after Lyle stopped Mathis in two, Frazier didn't seem real interested.

Considering Frazier had beaten Ali and Ellis ... (and Ali, Frazier and Ellis had all beaten Quarry) ... Foreman and Lyle were the only undefeated contenders who hadn't received a title shot yet. They were also the two hottest prospects in the game at that moment.

So Joe fought George Foreman. Frazier could've just as easily picked Lyle. Frazier just didn't want to defend against Ali again.

After Foreman beat the hell out of Frazier, and Ali lost to Norton, and Quarry beat Lyle and Shavers beat Ellis ... in early 1973, the door was open for Foreman to fight anyone. Should Foreman have fought Norton first, or Shavers, or Quarry ... instead of Roman ... definitely. But if anyone deserved it out of that group, the guy who got the first shot should've been Norton - for beating Ali and breaking his jaw. Norton hadn't fought for the title before.

I don't know if beating Ron Lyle qualified someone for a third title shot over someone who had just beaten Ali.

 

I don't know and I don't care. Had they fought, Foreman would have beat the **** out of Quarry. Wouldn't go past 5 rounds on Quarry's best day. I'm thinking more like 3 rounds though.

 

Quarry gets too much credit for the win over Lyle in retrospect. Lyle had some good wins but had not peaked yet. Good win, but I think Lyle improved after this fight.

 

Do you guys forget that managers not boxers make these fights, they go for the most money.

 

I don't know how Foreman got a shot at the title without an eliminator with Ali. I don't know how Foreman managed to maintain that high ranking from the chuvalo win. The five men George was staying busy against in 1972 alone had 74 losses between them.

 

Foreman won the Gold in '68, he had beat G. Peralta x2 (W10 and KO10), G. Chuvalo KO3, and B. Kirkman KO2. Not much good to say about who he fought prior to Frazier, that's for sure.

 

I believe that Quarry's party boy lifestyle made him burn out very quickly. He had a resurgence in 1973, beating the undefeated Lyle, Randy Neumann, Tony Doyle, Shavers.

He had went on the round with popular rock band Three Dog Night after losing to Ali in 1972. I don't think he became dissolute or anything, but rumors abounded about drinking and some recreational cocaine usage. By the fall of 1972 he decided he wanted to fight again after all and started to clean up his act. For about a year, the sabbatical from boxing for half a year looked like just what the doctor ordered.

The problem was, after the Shavers fight Jerry and his new bride (a pretty statuesque blonde trophy) started replicating the late-night, partying lifestyle. This washed-up Jerry right quick as he stunk up the joint against Alexander (a bum for all intents and purposes) then nearly losing his eye against Frazier who begged, pleaded with a catatonic Joe Louis to halt the one-sided blood bath. Frazier even visited Jerry's dressing room and comforted an inconsolable Quarry. He knew his career was over at that point. Joe's visit was a class act from a terrific guy. When he left the bimbo, who would cheat on and dump Jerry after his fame and money ran out, exclaimed: "I don't care what Ali says! That Joe Frazier is a class act!" She was actually right about that.

 

Charley Quarry is who you guys are speaking of. I think she was an ex Miss Indiana or something like that and she was a babe.

I believe it was Gil Clancy that said of all of Quarry's women, she was the one that almost drove him insane.

 

Quarry was just too easy to hit. And then he would try and get his pound of flesh and trade. Wrong thing to do against a 73 or 74 Foreman.

And George would have shoved him around just like he did with Smokin Joe. And Quarry would have been right out there at the worst place to be for those foreman hooks and uppercuts.

Plus, those kinds of punches have an excellant chance of either busting him up or causing swelling. That's if the ref didn't stop the fight himself via knockdowns.

I just don't see Jerry having any more of a chance against the prime Foreman than Jerry would have if he'd not retired and faced Holmes, like they talked about after the Zanon fight. He had zero chance in that one either.

But Jerry Quarry was the rare breed not seen in recent times---he'd sign the contract.

 

It's an interesting match up because if George was taken past five rounds he simply was another fighter .. however the man that crushed Frazier in Jamaica was the best George and would have to be favored v.s. Quarry who did bust up and tired down a bit himself .. Foreman was a class above the guys Quarry feasted on but it is an interesting match up for sure and I can easily see Foreman's management not going out of their way to make the fight on the way to the title bout ..