Did Jerry Quarry became underrated ?

It has to be said that if Foreman fought Quarry instead of Norton people would be criticising him for going that way too. It was a no win situation to be frank. Compounding this is that a Norton not getting obliterated by Foreman would not have been beaten until Ali III if all things unfolded in similar fashion. On top of this if Quarry ever boxed again after fighting George he would have been whooped by Norton, again if all things went similar.

 

Cheers JT.

 

Quarry’s record against Frazier, Norton, and Chuvalo is 0-4. Foreman is 4-0. I’m sure Foreman was shaking in his boots.

 

…and modern day fighters get endless crap for it- as they should…some 60s & 70s guys not so much.

See also Norton’s top 10 ranking before he fought Ali. Lyle basically jumped over your Roman's, Garcia's, Bodell's and Blin's, so not that difficult to earn a similar rating at that time.

Agree, the kind that got Kenny a top 10 slot.

Louis, he wasn't in good shape at the time and Conn was, and I think he’d have lasted the 15. Billy UD.

Still, this just demonstrates how marketable Quarry was at the time- there was no preview cover before Foreman vs Norton. Guess who appeared on their cover when it hit the stands a month before the fight in Caracas? Yep, our mate Jerry again.

For me, if you listed all the fighters who fought for the heavyweight championship in the entire decade there’s a few names missing- and one is Quarry. Meanwhile, Evangelista gets two goes in just over a year! Then again, active champions and all that.

Maybe. I don’t this so personally, even though I agree that Kenny was deserving of a title shot too. Well, not many gave Tommy Hearns any flak for not making his first 154 title defence against Kirkland Laing did they.

 

Was George a time traveller too was he? Pity he didn't travel to early 1977 and turn down the Jimmy Young fight.

 

The Laing comment was a joke by the way. I'm just emphasising that just because you beat a legend, that doesn't mean you should jump ahead of everyone in the queue.

 

Yes he has, most who have that opinion never actually
watched him fight, or his losing efforts to two ATG's in
Ali and Frazier and a semi great in Norton at the end of
his career.
Quarry had all the tools (Granted ,sometimes he didn't use
them, and brawled
when he didn't need too on many occasions)
But he was well skilled ,and would be thought of quite differently
if he fought in a different , less talent filled era.

 

What does that have to do with anything? Did Young at that time of the Foreman fight have two losses to fighters that Foreman demolished with ease?

 

You're the one messing with the timelines, so i figured i'd play that game too. It's similar to Foreman shaking in his boots because Quarry was 0-4 vs those fighters, when at the time he was 0-2 and had only lost to Ali in the previous 4 years and his very good run of form led to BI's headline "Jerry Quarry deserves it but Ken Norton appears first in line for Foreman".

How did the George-Kenny fight go anyway? In all this excitement i've completely and inexplicably forgotten the result.

No but Young at the time had two losses to fighters that Quarry had beaten easily enough- one of whom he demolished with ease too.

 

That's because the 60s and 70s are so long ago. Today is also the age of social media where everyone is onto everything happening on a daily basis and opinions are thrust around endlessly. I'm sure the guys back then copped it somewhat but things just didn't get around like they do now.

True enough.

Very true. Norton certainly validated his ranking tho by beating the #2 heavyweight in the world and then taking him right down the wire in an immediate rematch. Incidentally Ali had put a whooping on Quarry just 9 months before Norton beat him which put Ali 2-zip over Jerry.

It certainly paid to be a good white American heavyweight contender in the 70's and early 80's.

For sure, he did however get a shot vs Frazier in mid 69 so he didn't quite cop the full mallard. Part of his problem was fighting Ali twice without a title on the line as well as Frazier for no title. That's a helluva tough gig.

Norton certainly deserved a title shot after his two gigs with Ali. Again, Ali had whooped Quarry not long before losing to Norton.

Luckily Hearns wasn't even champ when Kirkland beat Duran....and he'd lost to a mug 2 fights earlier...and he was campaigning at 147 despite fighting Duran at middleweight....and...and....just like old times!!!!

Well that's chalk and cheese at any rate. Laing had been losing consistently, Norton hadn't and Duran wasn't remotely close to the position Ali was in which was second best heavyweight in the world. Duran was barely in the top 10 at 154 and was thought to be ready for the fork.

Yet again Ali had put a whooping on Quarry not long prior to Norton beating Ali. That's a helluva big stick in the whole Norton/Quarry vs Foreman debate.

 

I said first defence, which was after the Duran fight and when Laing was campaigning at light-middle. The fact that he lost to Hutchings meant that it was Fred, not he, that got a shot at Tommy's title.

 

So beating the legend that was Duran did indeed get Laing in line for Tommy? Of course Laing never did much of anything thereafter whilst Norton did.

 

Well, as I've mentioned numerous times, the Quarry fight was mooted a good few months before the Norton fight.

It did, and yet George turned down that massive cash injection. Very strange.

 

Er, no, not at all, which was my point.

That's not really how it works though. I mean, if we're going to look into the future than Foreman-Norton didn't turn out that well did it?

 

The list of potential reasons for that fight falling thru are endless. Any sort of fanciful fantasy can be punted forward. Perhaps George was looking at the easy fight then decided nah i'm champ i better man up and fight the bloke who split with Ali rather than the guy who got belted. I believe Norton was the higher placed contender? There's also a chance that Foreman wasn't even doing the choosing. Quarry claimed King shut him out of fights in 74 but i'm not completely sure Don was that powerful pre Zaire.

Again there could be myriads of reasons. George had $5mil promised even before he stepped in the ring against Norton. He was getting almost double against Norton vs what he got against Frazier so perhaps money wasn't everything. Maybe King was lurking around. Who knows really?