Jerry Quarry vs 1950 Joe Louis

Yes but you are talking about a 1950 Joe Louis, and all of those guys would have likely slaughtered that version excepting maybe the Machen who beat a green Quarry.

 

1950 Louis is being judged off of losing a 15 round to prime Ezzard Charles.
Quarry at his best would have lost worse to Charles.
And styles make fights.
Quarry was a legit contender but exactly the type of face fighter you'd match an old Louis with to make him look less old.

 

Quarry at his best loses worse to Charles than Louis? Ha. I think not. If hobos like Barone, Oma, and Valentino can cause that version of Charles problems then I think Quarry can do fine. Im not saying he wins but Louis was given something like 2 or 3 rounds against Charles. Louis was just on his last legs period. You cant watch Louis in his comeback and not get hit over the head with the fact that he is about 30% of the fighter he once was.

Quarry certainly wasn't a face first fighter in his prime, as alleged here. He was primarily a counterpuncher who liked to box off the ropes, could punch going backwards and forwards, and had a great chin. His style might not have been a great match against Charles in 1950 but we aren't talking about Charles. We are talking about Joe Louis who by this time was basically a one armed fighter. Had old Joe chugged forward as was his want trying to back Quarry to the ropes Quarry would have obliged and then whether or not this aged ghost of Louis could get him out of there or get chewed up in the process is a tossup.

The problem with judging Quarry like this is that he had such a weird career where his physical prime didn't really dovetail with his best fighting form. He was a better fighter prior to the Ellis fight which is about when he entered his physical prime. After the Ellis fight and the resulting criticism over his style he changed as a fighter and in my opinion wasn't as good anymore. He wasn't physically on the slide but in trying to be more exciting he took way more punishment and made himself much less effective. I guess it depends on which Quarry you are matching Louis or even Charles with. If you are matching him with the stupid, hard charging Frazier 1 Quarry, which I don't consider indicative of Quarry's true ability or prime, then those guys probably do better (although Id still say Quarry would do better than Louis against Charles and have a fair shot of banging Louis out). If you are matching him with the 1967/68 Quarry who was faster, leaner, and fought in a different style then I think he has a good chance at beating Louis and Id certainly favor him to win more than two or three rounds against Charles.

 

Good summary!

 

Louis was washed up, yes. That I agree with.

But who did your prime Quarry beat?
A past prime Floyd Patterson, barely. Very debatable.
Thad Spencer. Joey Orbillo.
It's not impressive.

 

More impressive than anyone Louis was beating. Id pick that Patterson to beat every single guy on Louis' comeback win ledger. Id pick him to beat 1950 Louis and Id give him a 50/50 shot at beating Charles. More importantly Id pick Quarry to beat the guys Louis beat on his comeback as well. Which is really the point. I just don't think Louis was anywhere near himself in 1950 and I don't think the division or his competition was that strong. Even at the top. Two of the best guys you can name on Louis' resume at the time were nothing at that point. Lee Savold had fought just once in about three years and had lost 36 times when he faced Joe Louis. Jimmy Bivins was at the end of his career, coming off a loss about a month earlier and frankly was overrated to begin with IMO. He turned in a horrible **** show of a performance and ran from Louis all night. After that his competition drops off dramatically and youd be hard pressed to find anyone who would equate guys like Brion and Beshore with Quarry's talent.

 

I already said prime Quarry vs 1950 Louis is 50/50.

I dont equate any of Louis' non Charles/Marciano comeback opponents with Quarry. I think Quarry is a full class better than all of them when Louis fought them.