Norton & Frazier had personal animosity toward Quarry? Is it true?

He writes about Quarry too:

http://books.google.com/books?id=J_...Norton cobb fight&pg=PA97#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

If, according to what Norton wrote, all his hatred for Quarry evaporated after his tko victory, then why dredge up his name in a later interview to besmirch him as a racist?

 

He refused being checked by a black doctor prior to the first fight with Ali, for one thing...

 

Ali was the one who spread all of the nonsense about Quarry being racist. Quarry was not racist. And I know for a fact he got along with Frazier well before both their fights, and after. Norton may not have liked him but this had more to do with them being California rivals and Norton not wanting any part of a prime Quarry (to the point he was afraid to even spar with him), than Quarry being racist.

 

Exactly. I heard about Bonavena from Frazier. Other than that Frazier was for the most part cool with all of his opponents. Well Ali as an exception of course :yep. I saw some footage of Quarry and Frazier from back in the day in a boxing gym kidding around. Frazier even said that had Quarry not cut so easily he could of been a heavyweight champion.

 

Interesting. I did not know this but it all makes sense. I do think a lot of people had faith in Quarry to be the next "Great White Hope." And Quarry was actaully a good fighter so they pumped him up. But it was obvious the racism was still in the air.

You can watch at the beginning of the Frazier/Quarry I fight, the crowd clearly booing Frazier and cheering for Quarry. It was pretty obvious why. Quarry and his camp definitely underestimated Frazier and maybe the hype was a part of it. Quarry came in and immediately started brawling with Frazier which is suicide for the long hall of a fight. Brawling is Frazier's specialty. Quarry definitely won the first round or two. After that you can see the air coming out of the tire of Quarry. Frazier took Quarry apart easily after this.

 

Quarry made a great tactical mistake by fight Frazier like that after the first couple of rounds...better for him if he had reverted to his old counterpunching style, or emulated Bonavena to a degree. he may not have won, but he wouldn't have gotten stopped as he did most likely. quarry may have also studied the way Fritzie Zivic fought Henry Armstrong the first time.

 

I remember reading in The Greatest where Ali commented on Quarry complaining how all the top black fighters were ducking him ... Ali wrote ( debatable if he even read the book let alone wrote it) that Quarry would continue to making this claim till he got a Frazier rematch and the ref had to stop the fight to save his life ..... interesting to note how Ali and Frazier and Norton all managed to show up and look extra sharp to fight Jerry ...

 

Yes. I recall reading that in Muhammad's autobiography. At the weigh in,Ali said something like this "If you don't like those black doctors who are here to help you......you must hate black me who is here to harm you..."

 

I can still see Norton beating a prime Quarry though. Albeit in a closer fight than their actual one.

 

Quarry gave Frazier the fight of his life the 1st fight, 2nd fight he was outclassed....Ali outclassed Quarry although 1st fight was stopped quickly on a cut...Norton was lucky that he fought a wasted Quarry who was completely shot...funny but Quarry stopped Ken in his tracks with a punch and the Ref stopped the action, I do not think Quarry knew how badly he hurt Ken...IMO a Fresher younger Quarry would have stopped Norton...Jerry was the master at fighting the big slow punchers like Lyle,Mac Foster,Shavers,Spencer,Mathis,Alexander, and I would have favored him against Foreman but when he got in there with a cutie or someone with speed he could get frustrated. Bring him the monsters and his chin and underrated but limited defensive skills proved sturdy.

 

Quite a few would have favoured Jerry over Foreman. Not me though. Once George corners Quarry,then it's game over.

 

In Quarry's dressing room after the second Frazier-Quarry fight it was a somber affair. Quarry was pretty banged up and very despondent of his loss and his performance. Joe Frazier walked in looking like a PIMP (in a good way) and he and Quarry exchanged brief pleasantries. As Frazier was walking out Quarry's wife (who was seated next to Quarry) blurted out "I dont care what Ali says, Joe Frazier is all class!!!" I dont believe there was any real animosity between Frazier and Quarry. Competetiveness, gamesmanship, etc but not animosity. Quarry certainly wasnt racist.

 

Guys, you're all missing the big picture. I know this because a buddy of mine was a gym rat at the Main St. gym in L.A. where Quarry and Norton regularly trained. If there was animosity Norton had for Quarry it was because Quarry regularly schooled Norton in the gym, including a time when my buddy watched the trainers revive Norton. One thing about Jerry was that he was not nice to sparring partners. He put the hurt on Norton and his much smaller brother Mike on regular occasions. My buddy also saw him break Windmill Whites ribs and leave him in a heap. He was rough on sparring partners. He was not racist, although I'm sure a lot of fighters have spouted a lot of crap in clinches. These guys ain't choirboys. But Jerry's trainer for the first 3/4 of his career was mexican-american Johnny Flores, so racism is nonsensical. He just put the hurt on Ken and I don't think ken ever forgot it. In fact, I recall Norton saying after the Garcia rematch that he could have knocked him out earlier but wanted to punish him for what he did to ken a few years earlier. So keep that in mind.

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