Some experts think it was 1973 when he was between 27-28 years old and that incredible run beating Earnie Shavers and Ron Lyle in the same year.
I think Quarry's best performance was against Mac Foster. Quarry boxed and moved well, avoiding Foster's power (except for one big right hand) and systematicly broke Foster down, ending with a KO. Either the Lyle fight or the beat down of Thad Spencer was his second best fight. I feel Quarry grew "old" pretty quickly. His last major win was the blow out of Shavers, and looked terrible following that fight vs Alexander, and just horrid vs Frazier. I think Jerry was old at 27-28.
Without any question....it was the JQ of '68 thru '70. This was before he matured and his physique thickened. Ideally, '68 and '69 Quarry was the best, now that I've fine tuned it a bit. He was a fasthanded, cruel, vindictive counterpuncher...
'68 thru '69 was the time span that Jerry whipped Thad Spencer and outclassed Buster Mathis...two of Jerry's best performances.
Quarry was generally considered past prime going into the Lyle fight, and was basically the declining contender, being offered up as a sacrificial lamb for the rising star. I think it is more a case of the declining fighter, having one last great fight in him, or two in this acse.
1969, even though he lost to Frazier (and chose to outpunch the puncher), that was his peak performance.
I think Jerry was another that matured as a fighter about the same time that his physical body started to decline. I had ringside ticket to Quarry-Shavers JQ KO1 Shavers and (Shavers-Ellis KO1) I had ringside to Quarry-Mac Foster 24-0 24 KO's and I had ringside to Quarry Lyle. I think the more relaxed and smarter Quarry was the older version. No doubt Jerry was a giant killer, He dominated Lyle,Smoked Shavers and broke Big Mac down very impressive and I was expecting Quarry to lose each one but the roar in MSG when Mac Foster started to topple, when he rocked Lyle and put Big Ron on the defensive and survival mode and he went to war with Shavers and met him mid-ring to the ropes...He had some earlier wins over Thad Spencer and Buster Mathis that were impressive as well. I also saw Jerry in semi-shape taking on Joe Alexander in Nassau Coliseum and Jerry got a scare Alexander could whack and dropped Jerry with a bomb, I remember sparks flying off Jerry's butt when he hit the floor but he got up and took care of Big Joe Quarry just could not mentally-physically get past Ali or Frazier but I have to tell you I always got my moneys worth from Jerry, unfortunately he was in poor poor condition for Norton (he still rocked Ken badly but Ref blocked Jerry's view but Quarry even admitted he did not train for that fight and was drinking and snorting instead of training
The Shavers ko was pretty impressive IMO. He just basically went out there...waded into Shavers...took some shots...and then got the job done....but this was Jerry's swan song for sure.
Well said and much better then I could especially with you having been at ringside to some of Jerry's fights. Once Jerry's body started to soften up I was as surprised as many with his win over Ron and ko of Shavers, but when Joe hit his weakend middle in their second go he couldn't take it downstairs anymore. I always thought Jerry was in his top form in Frazier 1 with it being a matter of Frazier seemed made of steel and Quarry something abit less.
I wished I'd have seen him live.he has to be one of the most charismatic and exciting fighters ever.I remember him blowing shavers away but that was the earliest I think as well as bodell attacking quarry's fists with his chin !!!:-(
To me there are really two Jerry Quarrys: There is the young, trime Quarry who was a great counterpuncher, fast, and had a sneaky left hook but was inexperienced. Then there is the 1970s Quarry who was bloated looking, not always in the best shape, slower and less explosive, strong and experienced but temperamental and physically on the slide despite his relative youth in years. To me this is why Quarry was never able to reach his potential. Physically he peaked before his experience level caught up with him. Had you been able to match the young Quarry of 67/68 with the experience of the 73 Quarry he would have gone much farther.