January 2002 - July 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

comfortably than Ali' did. But still Ali' hit George Foreman with a barrage of
punches in Kinshasa and saw him falling clumsly on the canvas. End of the story,
Ali is the greatest. |
|6/17/05 07:18:08 PM|steve |na||na||||10|Joey,I like your list of great
fighters,even if it is a little hard to judge guys from too far back.Dempsey vs
Hollyfield or Frazier,who knows?I disagree with you on two of your picks.Tyson
was only great untill he ran in to Douglas,and especially Hollyfield.Hollyfield
clearly belongs ahead of Tyson on anybodys list.I also disagree with your choice
of Lennox Lewis.He got his head handed to him by two average fighters.Why don't
you give Hollyfield at least top ten or fifteen respect?|
|6/17/05 07:51:22 PM|ted|san jose||tedfish2@hotmail.com||||10|If it weren't for
the fact that Ali beat him in their one and only fight, I'd rate Foreman as the
greatest of all time. Joe Louis was a small heavyweight. Foreman would have
crushed Louis quickly and Ali would have outboxed him Louis. Larry Holmes?
Holmes lost to a light heavy (Spinks) twice for chrisake. He barely beat an
over-the hill Norton.|
|6/17/05 08:07:40 PM|Angelo|DC||funktron@yahoo.com||||10|Ted: Holmes beat the
CHAMPION Norton, far, far from an over the hill Norton. Norton had just beaten
Jimmy Young, who had just beaten George Foreman and Ron Lyle. Norton had also
given a good account of himself against Ali (I believe) less than two years
earlier. Young Larry Holmes beat an in-prime Norton in a thrilling fight---one
for the ages. Holmes also beat tough Earnie Shavers twice and proceeded to beat
every other relevant figher of the era, except for maybe John Tate, who was iced
by Weaver(who Holmes beat). As for the "losses" to Michael Spinks, give me a
break. I'm as big an Ali fan as you're going to meet---but Ted, Ali's wins over
Jimmy Young and Norton at Yankee Stadium were not nearly as impressive as
Holmes' two losses to Spinks---especially the rematch, that Holmes clearly won.
And in the first fight, I'm sorry, but Spinks performance should have never
unseated a Champion. I'm not much for conspiricies, but I've got to wonder if
protecting Rocky Marciano's legacy had anything to do with Holmes being robbed?
Holmes was a hell of a fighter. |
|6/17/05 08:16:31 PM|Angelo|dc||funktron@yahoo.com||||10|Massimo: You're
correct in saying that Ali's win over Foreman cemented Ali as the greatest. The
fact is, this guy found creative ways to upset Liston and Foreman, found almost
super-human courage to gut it out against Frazier in Manilla, absorbed
ridiculous punches against Earnie Shavers, but was full of vigor at the end of
the fight while Shavers barely held on (Ali won a unanimous decision---would
have scored a KO if the fight lasted another 20 seconds). And Ali fooled Father
Time by beating Spinks in the rematch, after fighting courageously against the
much younger Spinks in the first fight, even though he was not in good shape.
But you're right---it all goes back to beating Foreman. If Foreman won that
fight, I'm not sure who would have beaten him, and when. Clearly, Norton and
Frazier didn't belong in the ring with Foreman. I believe Foreman would have
taken Shavers the way he took Lyle---in a slugfest. Jimmy Young might have
never gotten the opportunity to fight Foreman if Foreman had remained Champion
(remember, Young made a name for himself in the bout against Ali). Foreman
could have held that title another five years. My belief is that the first guy
to come along who would take him was Larry Holmes. A 1979 version of Holmes
would outbox, outjab and outscore an aging Foreman in '79---I THINK! |
|6/17/05 09:12:07 PM|Joey|Canada||aol||||10|STEVE, Holyfield had some great
attributes. However, he wasn't always consistent in the ring and when he took
out TYSON, TYSON was already well spent. Whe he drew with LEWIS, I felt LEWIS
deserved the decision. The rematch, I felt HOLYFIELD outpointed LEWIS but I
guess I didn't see it right. So EVANDER has always been puzzling for me.As I
have stated previously, TYSON was a very unique individual. When he was focused
and at the top of his game, he was virtually unbeatable. He went through his
opponents systematically with the greatest display of speed and knockout power.