Jerry Quarry v Zara Folley

I don't think Zora would find Quarry as easy to deal with as Bonavena and Chuvalo. I give Quarry the nod here if he fought the same as he did vs Buster Mathis...who the hell picked Quarry to beat Mathis anyway? When inspired, the mercurical JQ could loo like he did vs Spencer and Mathis..and Folley wasn't beyond getting beat. I would give the '68-'69 and even the '70 version of Quarry a very good chance of springing an upset here..Folley wasn't as hard to hurt as Machen, for one thing.

 

he had a little static movement that Shavers, Foster, and Lyle lacked... He probably moved as much as Machen in his prime fights against Chuvalo and Bonavena I.

 

I don't agree that Lyle "lacked" movement at all - in fact, he showed some fairly decent movement in several of his fights (particularly against Ali), even if his technique lacked polish.

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Either way, Buster Mathis had better movement than Folley and at least as good as Machen's, and by all accounts, Quarry handled him easily.

By contrast, Folley was outmaneuvered and outjabbed by Henry Cooper - and Quarry was at least a good a boxer as him, but with a much better chin and probably even less fragile facial tissues.

I'd say the style matchup here more closely resembles Folley's fight with Cooper, or Quarry's fight with Thad Spencer, than it does Quarry against Machen.

 

Have you seen either of those fight. I can't see Cooper outjabbing him, maybe winning by pressure. It was in London though, so there's the potential for a home town decision. Folley did stop Cooper in 2 in the rematch, I'm not sure if it was a KO or cut, if anyone could enlighten us? And then he has the win and draw against Machen. Baring in mind he was 30 in '61 he picked up some reasonable victories past his prime too

 

I've seen the first fight - Folley got off to a big early lead and dropped Cooper at one point, but Cooper stole a lot of the late rounds by jabbing and tying up Folley, while Folley just kept plodding after him and looking to time him with a right hand. It wasn't exactly a decisive or embarrassing loss for Folley, but it did reveal some of his limitations.

Cooper had fair speed and was a fairly decent boxer. His main weaknesses were his so-so chin and fragile facial tissues, but not a lack of speed or skill. By contrast, Folley was largely flatfooted and his own jab was slow and often ineffective. Folley was a good, cagey technician with a big right hand, but he was not really all that dimensional or versatile as a boxer.

It was a close fight - debatable, yes, but NOT an outright robbery IMO.

I didn't see that one, but as I understand, Folley started off fast and busted him up very quickly, then flattened him with a big right hand that he couldn't see coming (due to his blood).

Folley was a decent, solid fighter, and I rate him as better than Machen - he wasn't as mobile or well-rounded a boxer as Machen, but he had a bigger punch and showed more consistent determination (whereas Machen sometimes seemed like he was just content to "be there").

 

Interesting, I'm a bit of a fan from Machen and Folley, they look pretty good on film, but haven't really looked deeply into their careers. I think the British scene at the time gave some pretty good fringe contenders too. Although in terms of Cooper I haven't got beyond the Ali fights. I've always seen him as overrated in the scheme of things, and the way he pipes on about the Clay KD is annoying, but I think I should watch more of his fights to find redeemable qualities

It also sounds like Cooper's cuts weren't all Ali's doing

 

ZORA BELL FOLLEY at his best would give Quarry a boxing
lesson. The old Folley that faced Ali in 1967 vs the Quarry that
faced Ali would be a close call.

 

Ali was pretty much immobile that whole fight, and Lyle didn't move like Machen or Ali did. Quarry thrived on strong punchers with limited movement. Folley to me doesn't fit that bill. Folley's sharp punching and strong fundamentals would've cut Quarry up IMO.

Also, Folley had a very good left jab. You claim that he was just a right handed puncher, in the first Bonavena fight he has an excellent jab.