January 2002 - July 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

JQ, many times in his career, would have finished the fight within 30 seconds
after landing a punch like that---but let Ellis off the hook. Speaking of
hooks, Ellis walked into Frazier's, and went down faster than Monica Lewinsky.
Kent---I do believe that in his day, Ellis was pretty good. However, "his day"
was about 7 years before the second fight with Frazier. The real criticism I've
had is with Frazier's camp for making that fight---not challenging, not
interesting, not wanted by fans, not necessary. Yes, I've pointed out that
Ellis was running on empty in 74-75, throwing pitter pat punches that wouldn't
hurt a poodle and losing fight after fight. But I've made these comments not to
disrespect Ellis, but to take Frazier to task for not fighting a legitimate
heavyweight with legitimate power and some intrique...someone with the skill to
give fans the chance at a suspensful outcome. Instead, we have Jimmy Ellis, who
we knew would either run and somehow survive to lose a one-sided decision---or
actually try to fight and get knocked out by the superior fighter, Frazier. Go
Joe---hey, you took on someone everyone in the world knew you would beat, and
guess what, you beat him! |
|3/1/05 05:11:08 PM|Fan|USA||yes||||10| I don't know how many of you were
actually following boxing back then, but the fact is there was never any talk of
Frazier ducking anyone. I grant you that in hindsight, it seems that he avoided
some worthy contenders, but - I repeat - back then, for whatever reason, it just
wasn't an issue. People like Lyle, Shavers, and Norton were not even on the
radar screen at the time. From 1968-1973 Frazier was considered the
ultimate, unbeatable fighting machine - not unlike Robero Duran at the time.
Ali, for his part, was bent on hypo-activity after his "layoff" (the truth is
he never stopped fighting, whether in the gym or in exhibitions - unlike Jim
Jeffries, who gained 100 pounds in 5 years of inactivity, Ali pretty much
maintained his fightng trim during 3 years in exile - he was obviously obsessed
with getting the title back). His devotion would pay off, three years later.
However, as of March 8, 1971, Joe was way on top, and there wasn't any pressure
to fight anyone in particular, with the possible exception (from the demandng
Ali die hards) of a rematch with Ali. But that took 3
years and resulted in a "razor thin" decision, in 1974. (BTW, referee Tony
Perez allowed a shameful number of clinches whenever Ali got in the slightest
trouble - the reports of the day document this). Before Ali-Frazier II
could happen, however, Foreman shocked the world in 1973 - yes, if you were
there, it was a HUGE upset,just listen to the call by Howard Cossell - by KO'ing
Joe. You have to remember how dominant Frazier was considered to
be prior to that. One judge had Ali-Frazier I 11-4 for Joe, while Ali suffered
an embarrasing broken jaw. The NY Daily News even had a cartoon of Ali with a
zipper for a mouth and the caption "Well, Shut My Mouth". You younger
folks (I assume that is the reason for the factual disconnect) seem to be
unaware of the historical context. As I tell my kids, they're all
invincible until they lose. I guess you had to be there, but please, let's not
rewrite history. Maybe Ali, Frazier or Frazier, Ali are # 1 and 2 of
all time. That would certainly be a compliment to Jerry Quarry. |
|3/1/05 05:38:40 PM|Noam|same||same||||10|The disrespect towards Ellis is all
from Frazier. That is how he described him in his book ("sissy", "pansy", etc).
He spoke the same demeaning way about Ali, Mathis, and many others. It is not
endorsing the ridicule by simply repeating it.Fan, the media in 1969
criticized Frazier for fighting "dogmeat". It was this unrest that forced him
into fighting more credible opponents, starting with Jerry Quarry.A
simple question: Given that Mike Bruce and Oscar Bonavena knocked Frazier down
and nearly out when Joe was in his prime, why is it so ridiculous to speculate
that an almost washed-up past prime Frazier could have been knocked out by
murderous punchers like Shavers and Lyle ?Simple logic dictates that a
knock-out, in view of how far Joe had deteriorated, was very likely. Joe's
management knew it and that's why they never made dangerous fights against big