Jerry Quarry vs. Roy Jones Jr.

Discuss

 

Was Quarry really better than Ruiz... honestly? Ruiz was hard to watch but he found a way to win vs. a better group of fighters than Quarry beat.

Ruiz was stopped in 19 seconds by David Tua in 1996. That was Ruiz' first KO loss and he would not be stopped again until 2010 at age 38 (LKOby9 David Haye). The Haye fight was his last.

44-9-1 (30) 1NC overall and 5-5-1 (1) 1NC in WBA HW world title fights. He held the WBA belt 2 times.

3 of his 7 decision losses were by SD, 1 was by MD, 2 of the other 3 were very close. With that said he had some close wins as well.

Now consider who he faced...

Sergey Kobozev LSD10
Danell Nicholson LSD12
Boris Powell W10
David Tua LKOby1

then he got better...

Jimmy Thunder WSD12
Ray Anis KO1
Tony Tucker KO11
Jerry Ballard KO4
Evander Holyfield x3 L12, W12, D12
Kirk Johnson WDQ10
Roy Jones Jr. L12
Hasim Rahman W12
Fres Oquendo KO11
Andrew Golota W12
James Toney NC12 (Toney was the winner but tested positive for a banned substance)
Nikolay Valuev x2 LMD12, L12
Ruslan Chagaev LSD12
Jameel McCline W12
David Haye LKOby9

Sure, Quarry faced Frazier x2, Ali x2, and Norton... but it's not like he did well in any of these fights. He was totally dominated and stopped in these 5 fights. He was also dominated and stopped by Chuvalo.

I hated watching Ruiz most of the time but I think he could have beat Quarry in a close decision.

Ruiz was durable despite the quick loss to Tua. He was a sloppy fighter but he found a way to win for the most part. 6'2" with a 78" reach. He fought as heavy as 241 Lbs. (vs. Rahman). I think he'd be able to handle Quarry's shots.

 

Jones was usually pretty durable. Before getting stopped for the first time he was only down once (vs. Dell Valle). Give the guy a break... he's 5-6 in his last 11 and all 3 of his KO losses are during this stretch. His only other loss was the DQ to Griffin... who he stopped in 1 round of their rematch. He also beat two of the other fighters who beat him... Tarver and Hopkins.

Maybe Quarry could punch harder than Tarver, maybe not? Tarver is taller, has a longer reach, and really isn't much lighter than Quarry (Quarry's fighting weight) in between fights (during Tarver's prime). Tarver's faster, more accurate, and a southpaw.

Ruiz fought Jones well in the 1st round but had he tried to fight that way for 12 rounds would it have worked? Could this strategy have worked for Quarry? Would Jones have found a way to win regardless?

Like you said... Jones would have little trouble hitting Quarry. How often would Quarry land a clean punch on Jones though?

I'll take Jones by decision or maybe even a late round stoppage on cuts/swelling.

 

Are you comparing Quarry with Louis?

The thing is that Jones is at least comparable to Hagler... he also won world titles past MW, remember? Jones was a Champ at SMW, LHW, and even HW. Hagler never fought above 160Lbs.

Now compare Quarry and Louis.

Bad comparison my friend!

Jones vs. Quarry is a legit match-up. Jones is about a 1/2 inch shorter than Quarry and they have the same reach. Jones was actually 199 Lbs. in the ring with Ruiz (he weighed in at 193 Lbs. though). Jones is also faster, more accurate, and better defensively. So, I guess it comes down to how durable Jones was, right?

 

It would be different had he been competitive v. Frazier x2, Chuvalo (he did better vs. Chuvalo than he did vs. Ali, Frazier, or Norton though), Ali x2, or Norton but he wasn't. Those 6 KO losses were brutal one sided affairs. I'm not a Ruiz fan at all, I'm just being honest about all of this.

Machen won just about every round vs. Quarry.

Patterson was far past his best days and many felt he beat Quarry in both of their fights. Regardless I will say these were good performances by Quarry.

The Ellis loss was close.

He beat Lyle before Lyle peaked but still a good win.

He stopped Shavers in the 1st round... Shavers had a questionable chin. Had it gone longer could Quarry have been in trouble. Who knows? No matter, good win.

Mac Foster? Thad Spencer? I think Hasim Rahman, Fres Oquendo, Andrew Golota, and even Kirk Johnson were better. An old Holyfield was better than an old Patterson.