Jerry Quarry in a different era?

He'd have his best shot at being champion during the Jefferies era to the Dempsey era. I'd favor him over everyone Dempsey beat but not against Dempsey himself although he would be a live underdog.

In the Louis era, he is a top contender, but he doesn't get past Louis. Same for the Marciano and Liston eras. In the Holmes era, he picks up a belt probably and is a top rated contender. Same with the Tyson era. Although during this time, he may be fighting in the cruiser weight division. So he'd likely be a rival of Evander Holyfield. During the Lewis, Klit and current era, if he elected to move up from cruiser weight, he would be a top rated contender and may hold a belt. At cruiser, he likely would have been the chief rival of Usyk.

 

It's always the klit era in my house. And everybody is champ.

 

He could become a champion in an era between Jeffries and Johnson. Him against Burns would be a good battle.
He could beat disinterested Johnson from Willard fight, but it also depends on lots of things.
He would likely beat Willard.
He could beat Carnera or Braddock, but it's not a given.
He would likely beat Leon Spinks, but it's very short window.
He could beat Michael Spinks from Conney fight, but it's also not a given.
He could beat Moorer and old Foreman.

I don't include belt holders. Overall, Quarry was good and he could beat some lineal champions but he wouldn't be a long-time champion in any era to me.

 

His best shot would be post Jeffries pre Johnson, post Johnson pre Dempsey.

He isn't beating Dempsey. However, if he came around say 1929 or so, i am sure he would hold the title albeit briefly. Quarry vs Baer would be interesting, as would Quarry vs Schmeling and Sharkey.

 

Also, i give Quarry a legit shot at winning a belt during the Holmes era but not vs Holmes. I could see Quarry winning an alphabet belt during this time.

 

The Dempsey era he could possibly Win the Title.
The Patterson era

 

Quarry would definitely pick up one of the alphabet straps in Holmes, Tyson, Lewis, Klit, or current era considering there are plenty of titles to go around. However, in past eras where there was only one title I don’t see Quarry picking up the title.

Champs like Stiverne and Vitali would’ve been tailor-made for Quarry. I could also see Quarry beating guys like Bonecrusher Smith, old George Foreman, McCall, Bruno, Ray Mercer, Charles Martin and quite a few other guys.

 

I don't see him beating Vitali. The reason he had so much trouble with Ali, is because of Ali's reach and long arms. He'd have the same trouble with VK, plus VK hit harder than Ali and was taller. He stops Quarry on cuts.

 

As much as I like Vitali he struggled with good boxers and he wasn’t half the boxer Ali was. Vitali was great against durable punchers, but he really struggled with clever boxers, who had good handspeed and timing. Vitali often let Wlad handle the good boxers like Byrd, Haye, and Ibragimov.

Also, Quarry didn’t have a problem with long arms, since he beat several guys that had a comparable reach to Vitali and Longer than Ali. Quarry simply struggled with Ali’s handspeed and timing, which isn’t something Vitali can match.

Wlad I could see giving Quarry a very hard time because he was a much better boxer than Vitali.

 

I don't know, VK may not have been as good as Ali but he'd make up for it with size, strength and punching power. He can pick off Quarry from long range with his jab at least long enough to cause cuts.

 

Jerry at his very best, countering punching hard, combinations, and actually not half bad defensive fighter , when they left him alone, would have been a contender if not Champ in just about any era.

Quarry was ranked anywhere from #1 to #5 for about 90 months during arguably the toughest era of the heavyweight division. Maybe 1969-70 he would have been his most dangerous?

 

He was a nearly man in his own era and would be a nearly man in most other eras. He might have picked up a title in the 30s merry-go-round against Baer, Sharkey or Schmeling, but then he'd run into Louis. He might have beaten Patterson, Johansson or Marciano. From the 80s onwards he's a 6' 190lb man conceding enormous amounts of height, weight and reach to everyone. There were plenty of belts around by then so he might pick one up from one of the cheese champs, but he wouldn't hold it for long.

 

I can see Quarry beating Hart, Burns, Willard, 50/50 w Schmeling and Sharkey (the 1930's Sharkey, not the prime 1920's Sharkey) , beat Baer, Carnera, Braddock, possibly upset Walcott, beat Ingo, beat L. Spinks, squeeze a few 80's alphabet wins like a Smith or a Bruno, maybe a Coetzee .. that's my take ..

 

I don't esteem Quarry as high as you do, but I would say his peak was from '67 to ' 73.