Quarry ended up in a sad state

Everyone is different and has a different capacity for blows to the head. Quarry was forced to fight his brothers as a kid by his abusive father so was getting hit before his boxing career. Also he fought at heavyweight unlike LaMotta who was a middleweight.

 

NFL players as well. And they are wearing specially designed helmets!

 

The NFL has better record keeping. Boxers? Who cares? Not the promoters. Not the boxing commissions. Not the cable/TV companies.

 

LaMotta’s farther made him fight kids in the street for rent money.

 

There's definitely some sort of genetic factor.

Bowe was a slugger, but honestly wasn't even in that many wars or took that much punishment aside from the Holyfield trilogy, Golota, etc. He had a relatively short career, but he aged like milk with horribly slurred speech. Bowe didn't even face very many big punchers.

Then there's Tex Cobb, who had been in there with a murderer's row of Holmes, Dokes, Norton, Shavers, Douglas, etc, and yet kept his quick wit and sharp tongue well into old age. He blocked with his face and had even less skill than Bowe, yet he had a successful acting career too.

Tommy Hearns had a long career, but he didn't start getting nailed a lot until he got older and his legs slowed down. Hearns was so damn tall and skilled he could avoid a lot of shots, but nowadays you can barely understand him. Floyd Patterson was bounced off the canvas like a yo yo, but didn't have any issues I can think of. Chuck Wepner, again, blocked with his face but didn't have issues (although he did have tons of scar tissue). Meldrick Taylor, ended up a zombie despite all his talent and speed. James Toney, defensive wizard, but took a lot of punishment in sparring wars and now Toney needs a translator. Chris Byrd, defensive wizard who did get tagged or stopped by some heavy hitters, yet he speaks perfectly fine and even has a YouTube channel.

The results vary and are all over the place regardless of weight classes, boxing style, or length of career.

 

Poor guy.
And Quarry was such a warrior.

 

There’s a quote from Rocky Balboa in the first movie that goes something like: “Boxing is a business where you’re practically guaranteed to end up a bum.”

It’s always been true. They pay a high price.

 

And then you have my man Chuvalo, who got battered by some of the heaviest hitters ever and make it to the 80s in a quite good mental condition.

After all the bombing suffered Chuvalo should have been wheelchair bound by the time he was forty, but he was a true freak of nature. He could have made a nice living just being presented as a case study in neurology symposiums and workshops.

 

He still had dementia but his speech was actually quite good.

 

That is sad, but again a lot of 80yrs old suffer from dementia or some other mental issue, boxing or not boxing.

Once you pass 80s you are already in borrowed time, unfortunately. Making it so far with decent physical and mental conditions as Chuvalo did is a win in my book.