After Liston decimated Clark, Cossell asks him who he would like to fight next, and Liston responds that he wants to fight Jerry Quarry. Does anyone know how close this was to happening, and why it ended up not happening? It would have been a great fight.
I would tend to agree ,but by this stage of his career, Sonny had difficulty pulling the trigger on opponents , I think he would fall back on his jab ,and coast to a dec win or, late tko via cuts.
15 rnder ? u do think they wud b fighting 4 1 title ? wud prob be a 10 or 12, rounder. id take, liston to cut him up with the powerful jab .
July 1968 After Henry Clark,,,,,,,,Howard Cosell did ask Sonny, Howard,,, 'So Sonny, who would you like to fight next.' Sonny,,,, 'That kid, when I was down in Los Angeles. What's his name.' Howard,,,,'Oh, Billy Joiner' Sonny,,,,,'No, I just fought Joiner. What's his name.' Howard,,,'Quarry, Jerry Quarry.' Sonny,,,,'Yea, Quarry' Unfortunately, Jerry Quarry was in the hospital recovering from a water skiiing accident in California, and would require a couple of months to recuperate. After his accident, Quarry did not fight again until November 1968. And he was not ready to tangle with Sonny Liston, as he required a couple of tune-up bouts. By the time Jerry was ready to battle Sonny in early 1969, Sonny got involved in a film project 'Moonfire', filmed in New Mexico and Arizona, which kept him busy for several months. Sonny and Jerry did spar in Los Angeles {May 1968}, just before Sonny fought Billy Joiner. Nothing more than light-sparring. Jerry was mentally out of it, having just lost to Jimmy Ellis.
Sonny would have gotten himself into the best shape he could manage for Jerry. This is a situation where JQ's lack of reach could cost him dearly. Liston's stamina was something of a question mark, but Jerry had some doubts about his own endurance as well. I think Sonny knew in his own mind he could beat Jerry from long range. This was Liston's chief advantage over Foreman. George would have tailed Jerry into the ropes and corners where Quarry would have an opportunity to slip and counter from the half measure both were usually comfortable with. Sonny was smart enough and versatile enough to negate this by keeping things at a distance with his jab and straighter punching. Jerry had the quickness and mobility to replicate the Martin template, but like Leotis, he'd have to come back from a substantial deficit.
The 1968 version of Sonny Liston would have had an extremely hard struggle with Quarry. The '60 version of Sonny Liston destroys Quarry.
1968 Common opponent,,,,,,,,Willis Earls 11/3/68,,,,,Sonny knocks out Willis Earls,,,KO 2 11/19/68,,,Jerry Quarry struggles late with Willis Earls, but wins a 10-Round Decision. Of course, Jerry could have still been distracted. 1-week earlier he filmed a guest appearance on an episode of I Dream of Jeannie. Aired 11/18/68 Maybe visions of a bikini clad Barbara Eden were on his mind,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,OOH!
Liston was quite the incredible fighter even in his late career. I never seen stamina be a major issue for him Shavers....now thats a man with clear stamina problems
REZ, Maybe you haven't checked out all of several of Sonny's post 1965 fights. Sonny was awful versus Billy Joiner in California in 1968. Though Billy was a cutie, who could make anybody look bad, Sonny was lumbering after 5 rounds. But Sonny did look great in knocking out Davey Jones of the Monkee's in 1968. Film role in the movie Head (filmed in Los Angeles May 1968).
