January 2002 - March 2004 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

checked the ratings and they are all correct. I thought some were strange also,
but maybe it's because the magazines are printed 3 or 4 months in advance, say
the November issue would be printed in July or August. |
|11/9/02 01:51:01 PM|Gerry Schultz|Ohio||jgschultz@firstam.com||||10|All things
considered - that Jerry could not have had so many fights so soon, that he could
have been a better defensive fighter, that his management could have been
better, etc.- I guess it would not really change the fact, as has been said,
that Jerry fought at the same time as Ali and Frazier, and being THE champ was
not really in the cards with those two out there. That being said, Jerry's
accomplishments are still very im -pressive. I know that when I first signed in
here, I felt Jerry was " about equal " to Joe, he certainly matched well with
him, as he would with Foreman. Joe could reach down ,though , and find a little
more. Jerry pushed as him as hard as just about anyone Frazier ever fought, and
given how many good heavies were out there, that's really saying something. His
aura being brought up, Jerry, to me , really did have something special. He was
a very good athlete, a hugely likeable guy, and what anyone thinks of that 1968
WBA tournament, he was unquestionably the star of it, no disrespect to Jimmy
Ellis. Because of that, he was treated often like a champion, something Mike
Tyson might not be able to have often said. Since he was, in my opinion, better
than Ellis - a very good fighter in his own right - I consider Jerry a champion.
But two things I'd like to add, first, quality contenders like Jerry who come up
short of a belt are not often given the respect they deserve for being
outstanding fighters and athletes. Second, as boxing is not treated the same as
others sports, unless these contenders grab public attention like Jerry did,
they disappear quickly from public light. It's too bad that the public doesn't
take this sport seriously enough to 1) respect them from a health and saftey
standpoint to demand they wear headgear, given that a public outcry brought out
football helmets and goalie masks, and 2) that those who fall just a little
short of the top are not as praised as other athletes in other sports who never
win the big one. I think the fact that this site is here is proof enough that
even with out a pro belt, Jerry impressed a large population of people and lived
a very compelling life.|
|11/9/02 05:08:31 PM|Kent|La Habra, Ca||oriononside@aol.com||||10|It is a shame
that in our competitive culture that second place is just not good enough. I
have heard some people saying that the San Francisco Giants failed because they
lost a close baseball world series to the Anaheim Angels. I have been a huge
baseball fan for many years and I have to go back quite a long way to find a
better played series than this one. There really were no losers in this one.
Back to boxing; two former long time contenders come to mind who both fought in
very tough eras but who, like Jerry, never won a world title, but still deserve
the title of great fighter they are, middleweight Bennie Briscoe and light
heavyweight Yaqui Lopez. Both of them will be well remembered by fans much
longer than some palooka who got lucky in an easier era and held a belt for one
fight. We can also add our own Mike Quarry to this list. Mike, like Jerry,
fought his heart out every minute of every round and though he may have also
come up short of a title, he could have well won a title in a less competitive
era. I think we should stop knocking Jack Quarry here. After all, he is the
one who instilled the motto of "there is no quit in a Quarry" in his family and
who knows, without Jack, maybe Jerry wouldn't have had the drive to go as far as
he did in the boxing world. |
|11/11/02 03:27:26 PM|Daryl Breese|Bakersfield||CALBREESE@aol.com||||10|Good
news is out on Parkinson's Research. A new Synchromed XL pump delivery system
when used in conjunction with GDNF (glial cell linederived neurotrophic factor),
a protein produced by the connective tissue has shown to not only halt, but
REVERSE the damage caused by Parkinson's with no apparent side effects, human
studies started in May 2002. The drug had been dismissed three years ago as
ineffective, but when coupled with the new delivery system, shows promise for