Muhammad Ali vs Jerry Quarry I

Money. A television appearance. A chance to avenge a loss in a fight that he lost on an early cut ... Ali happened to bemuch better in the rematch than the first one ...

 

I agree with that, and I feel Quarry ws most unfortunate to have suffer that cut, as I believe he was beginning to come on at that stage, and that he would have made for an interesting evening for Ali. This was at that point in Jerry's career just before he matured physically, and had moe speed, and was an even faster counter puncher that he was later. And check out, as a previous poster observed, how Quarry was able to slip Ali's punches at one point. Again, I think Jerry was screwed by his tender skin, as he never really got a chance to warm up to the fight. Not saying he would win, but I am saying that it would have been most entertaining.

 

That's true, but it was not just that he moved less, he also seemed to have a much harder time timing Bonavena than he did Quarry. Not surprising really, since Ali had trouble with awkward fighters.

 

Yank Durham thought Ali was crazy to fight Oscar and was terrified he would lose and blow the Superfight ... it was a terrible fight for Ali as it proved he was not ready to fight the best guys. The last minute KO causes many to forget just how losy a fight it was and how non-peak Ali looked. Still, he was far better than Cosell made him out to be, one of Howard's terrible fight calls .. one of many !