January 2002 - July 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

ecognizing Joe as champion and disregarding the WBA tourney. They were
certainly a minority, and any proclamation that Jerry-Joe II was some sort of
elimination bout would have meant little. Ali-Foreman was THE fight everyone
wanted, and I agree that nearly everyone thought Foreman would trounce him. I
also agree that Jerry was considered the favorite to retire Joe. In hindsight,
given the Alexander and Frazier results, he probably should have been considered
a huge underdog vs Foreman at that time. But I admit I would have lost my shirt
betting on Jerry.|
|3/4/05 08:26:28 PM|Steve|N.J.||na||||10|Angelo,Frazier vs Cooney is a good
one.I have to admit I haven't seen much film of Cooney's earlier fights.I can't
remember why.I guess I wasn't paying attention until he suddenly became a hot
contender,and,of course,a big white hope.I must admit,sometimes over the
years,I've been the kind of casual fan who only watches the top dogs.I saw him
knockout Norton.I remember he gave Holmes a very competitive fight for thirteen
rounds.Norton seemed to be vulnarable to anyone who could really crack.Why
didn't Norton ever fight Lyle?Anyway,prime vs prime,I think Frazier would have
introduced Cooney to the term,pressure.Cooney was no Ali or Holmes.I like
Frazier by tko in about five rounds.Remember,Angelo,Foreman had to knock down
Frazier six times.I know Kent argues that Frazier was finished after the first
or second knockdown.I'm not sure what that means.Does that imply the Ref. didn't
do his job?It only took Foreman three shots to dispatch Lyle .Does that mean Joe
could take a shot better than anybody,except Ali?|
|3/4/05 08:37:46 PM|Noam|same||same||||10|Forest, your story doesn't cut it.
I'll background you.Frazier was so confident of beating Foreman that he
didn't insist on a mandatory rematch in the contract. (Hear that Fran - Frazier
felt he was home and didn't need a guarantee of a rematch.)In January
1973 Foreman knocked the "unbeatable" Joe down six times in 4.35 minutes (a
knockdown every 45 seconds). The result was so demoralizing that a thoroughly
beaten Frazier didn't ask for an immediate rematch. Because it was one of the
most lopsided mismatches in heavyweight history, the media and the public were
not clamouring for a rematch either. No one was. People like to move on from
train wrecks.Foreman got on with business. He beat Roman and then
Norton. He looked down from the ring and told Ali he was going to kill him when
they fought. The fight with Ali was then arranged. That was the fight everyone
wanted.Meanwhile Frazier had lost his second fight against Ali. The
loser of two of his past three fights, a rematch between Frazier and Foreman was
the last thing on anyone's minds. After all, Frazier had the patron saint of
lost causes looking after him (help me out here Forest, you study the bible and
knew who that patient guy Job was. Who is the patron saint of lost causes ?)
In June 1974 Quarry and Frazier fought. By then Foreman and Ali had
signed to fight in October 1974. Neither Quarry or Frazier was the champion.
Neither Quarry or Frazier was a mandatory challenger. Neither Quarry or
Joe had legal standing whatsoever to demand a title fight. As far as the title
was concerned at that time, they were nobodies. Not the champion. Not a
contracted mandatory challenger. For Forest to imply that Quarry or Frazier
could demand anything aptly demonstrates his profound ignorance of the workings
of boxing.It is history now that Ali beat Foreman in October 1974. As
there was no mandatory challenger from any prior elimination bouts, Ali fought
Wepner (March 1975), Lyle (May 1975), Bugner (June 1975), before stopping
Frazier in September 1975.Those are the facts. Forest says otherwise.
Show me the newspaper stories from that era Forest and I'll read them. But a
wise man once counselled me that you shouldn't believe everything you read in a
newspaper.I'd instead rather rely on what Frazier and Foreman say. Go
read their books. Neither claims that the Frazier v Quarry second fight was a
recognized elimination bout. No mention of the alleged elimination bout at all
by them. Fact.Besides, Frazier didn't like eliminations. He squibbed out
of the WBA elimination tournament. Remember ?Something else. As champion