Jerry Quarry 35-4-4 (21 KO's) vs Mac Foster 24-0 (24 KO's) Full Fight

Foster had probably the most laughably inflated rating I've ever seen. Dude somehow became number one contender without beating a single opponent in the top ten, which I've never seen before.

 

Mac Foster although a devastating puncher did fail his first test into the fire, some of his opposition were fighters that had seen better day's or never were's. Jerry Quarry proved to be too much for a record padded Foster. Two years later on April 1 1972 Mac was badly outclassed by Muhammad Ali in Tokyo, Japan in 15 rounds, the victim of a rather one sided decision.

 

Boxing fans were buzzing over a rumor that Mac Foster had knocked out Liston in a 1969 sparring session. I don't think anyone ever confirmed the rumor. But apparently Sonny was impressed with Foster because he bet $10,000 on him to beat Quarry.

 

He fought Chuck Wepner to pay off the money he lost betting on Foster against Quarry. He owed the money to his friend the famous Las Vegas sports bettor Lem Banker.

 

The best thing I ever heard about Mac was that he knocked out a old Sonny Liston is sparring.

 

Maybe it was a premonition of sad things to come for The Big Ugly Bear, Sonny Liston.

 

It was quite widely reported in 1968 that Foster had floored Liston in sparring. It didn't take long for the story to become inflated from a knockdown to a knockout.

https://ibb.co/MfPQ543

 

True but he did beat some notable names like Thad Spencer, Cleveland Williams, although to be fair they had seen better days at that point in their careers.

After the Quarry loss Foster also stopped Zora Folley in 1 round who's another notable name but again way past his sell by date.

I think Foster is a bit similar to Cooney honestly two big punching KO artists who beat some notable names whilst past their best and got alot of hype.

Although I do think Cooney did look better fighter regarding eye test.

 

Debatable but I rewatched Cooney vs Holmes a few months ago and Cooney did alot better than what i remembered. Holmes was in top form and Cooney gave a very good account of himself for 10 rounds until he faded down the stretch and Holmes's extra class was apparent.

I think just based on the Holmes fight alone that's a more impressive showing to me.

 

Williams was shot (literally), and 36 years old.

Spencer was coming off three KO losses including a particularly brutal one by Leotis Martin. Here was his reputation at the time. "Spencer's another nobody now, just in there to take a little punishment as he can, get his seven-grand and go back to LA to raise hell until his money runs out" Article clipped from The Fresno Bee - Newspapers.com™

Folley was months away from 40, shot, and in his last fight.

I could maybe see these wins giving him a lower top ten ranking. Even though none were ranked or much good then, they were still notable names. No way he should've gotten anywhere near the top five, let alone number one.

 

I looked at Foster's record and you are right, he had not done anything that should have gotten him a high rating. Foster's manager did a great job, getting him a number 1 ranking and taking few risks. Mac Foster had only beaten 5 fighters out of his 24 wins who had won their previous fight. Of those, only one of them had won his previous 2 fights. His last 9 fights before fighting Quarry had been with fighters who had lost their previous fight. Of the fighters he fought who had won their last fight, their combined record was 60-41-5.

Jose Urtain was another fighter who got a ranking at about the same time by fighting similar competition. He was stopped by Henry Cooper in his first real test.

Foster's toughest opponent prior to fighting Quarry might have been Jim Gilmore (career 8-20). Gilmore went the distance with Jimmy Young, Leroy Jones twice, Henry Clark, and floored Mac Foster twice in the first round before being stopped in the 4th, and also knocked down Ken Norton before being stopped in the 7th.