DUANE BOBICK 'One Fight Away'

Interesting headline to Dave Anderson's pre-fight article for Norton v. Bobick ....... "BOBICK MUST PROVE HE'S NOT ANOTHER JERRY QUARRY"

Funny, how highly-rated Quarry has become by many, but he was considered then a very poor benchmark for Bobick's progress.

 

I think even in retrospect it was never that bad a decision. At some point he was going to have to step up in class. How many more bums were they gonna feed him until he fought the division elite?

 

The big thing with Bobick was just how damaging that Stevenson blowout loss really was. There was a lot of pressure on him and most thought he could've got the gold. That was such a big loss and lots of folks jumped off the bandwagon and never came back.

 

I suppose so.....But it would have been delaying the inevitable.

 

I always thought that a beating from which Bobick was spared was by his never fighting Gerrie Coetzee. That fight wouldn't have made it past round 1...Duane would have suffered the same fate as Leon Spinks.

 

Agreed, Coeztee would have made quick work of Duane...Knoetzee smashed him with one shot and it was brutal...

 

The flip side to the suggestion of too much pressure here is not enough hunger. Losing to Stevenson in Munich was bad, but at least he had previously proved he could beat Teo in the Pan Am Games. He was getting good money for having won nothing of significance as a professional, in stark contrast for the years of toil and proof Holmes had to generate to finally win a nationally televised commercial endorsement for KFC. (In the NFL, Tom Brady has also admitted to carrying an enormous chip on his shoulder for being a sixth round draft pick, generating enormous incentive to continually prove himself. On the other hand, historically the number one overall pick hasn't been all that successful all that often on the gridiron.)

Really, there's no comparison between Jerry Quarry and Bobick. Thad Spencer, Buster Mathis, Mac Foster, Ron Lyle, Earnie Shavers, Larry Middleton, Floyd Patterson, Brian London X2, Neuman, Courletti, Zanon etc...would be a highly honored win resume for any heavyweight contender regardless of pigmentation. On that list, there's one undisputed champion and three challengers for the undisputed title which Jerry deserved a shot at in 1973 or 1974, but never received. Give JQ African ancestry with the same record, and he remains a highly respected and well remembered name in the heavyweight ranks.

 

The 1972 Olympic Trial against Wells was given to Bobick. Wells was destroying Bobick, Bobicks nose was broken but Bobick had reopened a 2 1/2 inch vulerable cut that was had not even healed yet. This cut was not givin by Bobick but was sustained in the team dorm room a week before tyhe fight happened where Wells was hit by a door. So Wells went to fight and Knock out Johnny Hudson and Larry Holmes the next two fights in the first rds. Notably the second time Wells had knocked out Holmes that same year. In the Wells Bobick fight the ref would not let Wells go out fot the third round and he lost the fought on his stool by default. So the damage to Wells' eye had nothing to do with Bobick, it was a gift for him though. Wells should have fought Stevenson in the Olympics that year . Better matchup for sure.