Having been born in 1971, I missed out on Jerry's career. i love watching his fights though. Bert Sugar said that in a Ring magazine poll that he was voted the most popular boxer for 4 years straight? More popular than Muhammad Ali? How popular was Quarry in his heyday?
I guess a white fighter doesn't deserve to be popular. It's "wacist"...baaa, baaa, ....The PC sheep wouldn't have it any other way.
If you don't think his skin color had anything to do with his popularity than you are very naïve. He was a tough, blue collar (another term for a not born rich white guy from a hard working family) guy who had good overall skills but liked to brawl and would bleed a lot. Any average Joe could relate to this kind of guy and that's why he was popular. He wasn't from the ghetto, he wasn't groomed to be a superstar right out of the Olympics.
Jerry was an exciting guy, always action he took some and gave some, he had trouble with Ali's speed and Frazier was prime and fit when they fought, 2nd fight both were past it. Quarry handled a undefeated Ron Lyle quite impressively, KO'd Mac Foster (good body/head switch) Mac was 24-0 with 24KO'S and KO'd Earnie Shavers in 1 after a give and take exchange. Quarry had a very good chin, power in both hands and was perfect for the big slow, stamina challenged guys, his chin neutralized power punchers and he had some decent head movement. I like his style against Foreman and the rest of the bigger slower guys but he was erratic. I was at all of the fights I mentioned and even when he came in unconditioned he was exciting such as the Joe Alexander fight
He's okay. I don't see why all the fuss about him though. I'd be surprised if he was really the most popular boxer in his day.
Quarry's popularity was due to several factors. First he was a talented fighter, who could punch, and take a punch. He could speak well, was intelligent, with a pleasant personality and he was a nice looking guy. He was no prima donna, coming up the hard way, from a family of hard asses. He didn't win them all, even sometimes disappointing, but he never quit.
This sums it up perfectly for me. I watched Duran vs Vilomar Fernandez on YouTube the other day, Jerry Quarry was colour commentator, I was taken aback at just how intelligent, articulate and down to earth he was. One of the most memorable quotes in British boxing history for me was after Quarry had flattened Jack Bodell inside a round. One of the British reporters asked Jerry if he'd found Bodell awkward. Jerry answered with a straight face, ''Well, he kinda fell awkward''.
I've always been both a critic AND a supporter of Quarry. I'm sick of all the PC BS surrounding his formidable years. He was NEVER the most popular HW (outside of narrow-minded whites) Not a lot of white HW's circa 67-72 who possessed his skills. He was often misquoted out of context; example: "You've got to realize that all the black contenders get more pumped up before fighting me because I'm white". A 'racist' comment? No, simply the truth. Torched Mac Foster in 70 (Liston lost a ton on that one putting his bankroll up big-time on Foster. One-sided dismantling of Mathias. His first fight with Frazier was THE fight OTY. Went toe to toe with Joe until the blood starting flowing (won the first round-round of the year). Gave Ron Lyle a 10-2 whooping. Stopped Shavers in the 1st. But he could be 'up and down'. We've heard about the drug abuse problems; many have had that issue, why single Jerry out? Forget the Norton fight in 75; he was a last minute sub for, I think, Bonavena and was shot by then. Lost twice to Ali, lost twice to Frazier. Shavers (in retrospect a righteous guy) and Mac Foster attended Jerry's funeral among others. Earnie has tears in his eyes. You want an epitome of a classic 'counterpuncher'? Look no further than Quarry. In closing, a great fighter with (so many others) negative baggage. I could go on but I'll leave it at that. R.I.P. Jerry. P.S. Patterson is my all time favorite fighter and I hated Jerry when they fought. Floyd should have won both with room to spare sans his 'nature' which we all know about. All hail Quarry! I saw all his big wins and all his disappointments.
Excellent post. Jerry was a quality performer, no doubt. He just had so much going against him in his personal life... the booze and drugs, the back injuries and above all, his father. I had heard that someone fed Norton a bunch of BS about Jerry being a racist. Meanwhile, Jerry was on pain meds for his back. Not a good recipe.
OK, here we go again... A great deal of Quarry's personality had to do with a few things: He was talented Well spoken good looking put on exciting fights and was charismatic and the other part was that he was, as the earlier poster put it: w H I T E Real white, not a kinda-sorta like Bonavena, or a ferr-ner like Bugner, Milderberger, or even Chuvalo. I don't think Quarry was a better fighter than Zora Folley, or Patterson, but he was more popular. So basically, I'd say his appeal was %50 white and %50 talent/charisma. Anyone who denies that the other factor didn't exist is a pure fool.
I don't think he's singled out on that at all. As you say, many have that issue, and many have that issue discussed.
