January 2002 - July 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

y themselves. Some turn to alcohol and drugs because the effects temporarily
mask the physical pain and the loneliness. Eventually they mask it continually
by drinking continually.I hope it wasn't so for Jimmy Young.|
|2/23/05 03:34:26 PM|Angelo|Washington, DC||funktron@yahoo.com||||10|Noam: It's
all pretty accurate---though there have been many cases where a financially
healthy boxer continued to fight past his prime---disproving the poverty reason.
Ali, Holyfield, Leonard and others had millions of dollars banked as well as the
opportunity to make money, in retirement, through commentating, promoting
products, personal appearances, etc. Still, they boxed. Holyfield puzzles me.
Why keep going for this long? I read a Washington Times article on Jerry Quarry
in the mid-90s. It talked about how his father had hoped he'd retire from
fighting when he was young and not affected and buy some gas stations and just
have a comfortable living. As we know, this didn't happen. Jerry's an example
of a guy who did a great job doing color commentary on fights, had popularity
and personality---and could have stayed out after the second loss to Frazier. I
guess it's in your blood to keep coming back for more. |
|2/23/05 04:59:54 PM|Massimo |Roma||Italia.com||||10|In the early 70's or
earlier to get wealthy you had to be one hell of a fighter ! Heck, Frazier and
Ali' only got 1.5 million dollars for the Fight of the Century. I'm not 100%
sure, but very probably Mike Tyson got more money for his fight with Clifford !
Today, you don't have to be a champion to make money ! Heck, John Ruiz probably
is already very wealthy ! And still (or yet) surprisingly today the fighters
fight until they are very old, while in the past they usually did quit their
careers very soon (on average, there were a few exceptions like Jersey Joe
Walcott etc). Guys, I really don't think that a great fighter like Zora Folley
got (or became) SUPERWEALTHY. If Ali' and Frazier got 1.5 million dollars for
their first fight, how much did Zora Folley get for his fight with the legendary
Duke Sabedong (a guy who was only 3 inches shorter than Kent's friend in Boston)
?On the other hand I remember that Michele Geraldo Tyson got an unbelievable
amount of money for his 1996 fight against Frank Bruno. |
|2/23/05 05:10:29 PM|Massimo |Roma||4||||10|Not shorter, I meant andreer.
Sorry.|
|2/23/05 05:46:14 PM|Noam|same||same||||10|AngeloWith some fighters
boxing is a means to an end. They make good money and get out. Other fighters
are involved because they have no other options. But a guy like
Holyfield is a warrior who truly loves the sport and the battle (whether or not
he gets beat up). Holyfield is past the point where he needs to be protected
from himself.Then there are guys like Larry Holmes. He was all three of
those things. He fought as a means to an end and then invested his money well
and is set for life. Larry probably also didn't have many choices; boxing was
all he was good at. And then Larry kept fighting past his prime - not because he
needed the money and had no other options by then - but simply as a result of
loving the challenge and the battle.Perhaps Sugar Ray Leonard was like
this as well, although he got out rich when the writing was definitely on the
wall for him.Rocky Marciano was smart enough to know when to stop.
Lennox Lewis is smart too, but I'm not convinced he'll stay retired. Most boxers
don't know when to call time and in the most dangerous sport of all that can be
a fatal mistake.|
|2/23/05 08:09:01 PM|Fan|USA||yes||||10| Ali certainly fought everybody. The
only thing close to "ducking" anyone, as I recall, was his decision to fight
Olympic champ Leon Spinks, who had about 8 pro fights, at a time when fans were
clamoring for yet another Norton bout. Leon was entirely cooperative in Ali's
quest to regain the title again, which, you may recall, was a huge deal at the
time. (After losing it to Spinks he easily won it back from him). However,
by fighting everyone - and going the distance repeatedly with great fighters -
Ali took several lifetimes of punishment. Just consider what he endured in his
three close bouts with Frazier and Norton respectively. Young, Lyle,