January 2002 - July 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

and Patterson and my putting them on the same level---it's not that I think
Patterson was nearly the fighter Frazier was---for God's sakes, I think MARVIS
Frazier might take Patterson. I was just saying that Patterson and Frazier had
title runs that included defenses against some questionable competition, then
the title reigns were ended in KO fashion by big punchers (respectively, Liston
and Foreman, who also drew some similarities back then). Please, if I said it
wrong, consider this my retraction---Floyd Patterson was NOT Joe Frazier. If
these two guys faced eachother, Patterson would outbox Frazier for about three
rounds, and when the "smokin'" started, Patterson would end up on Pluto from a
left hook. |
|6/24/05 10:14:08 PM|Joey|Canada||aol||||10|" Frazier's hatred of Ali is
jealousy. He is jealous that Ali is so widely revered and that most good judges
place him as either the best or second best while Frazier was largely ignored,
even by his own Eddie Futch. "NOAM, I believe this to be true. I also
believe that FRAZIER was hurt to the core, as a human being, by being belittled
by ALI over the years. JOE did not have the level of intellect to cope with
ALI's attempts at promoting their three fights. I feel that at the same time,
ALI was psyching himself up, as he did against many of his top
opponents.I've never liked FRAZIER particularly, I was and continue to be a
big ALI supporter, but I can't jump on FRAZIER's back over this because I see
him as being limited, as far as his understanding of ALI is concerned. FRAZIER
was a great fighter in his time and without his input, we wouldn't have seen ALI
at his best, post '67.If you consider GEORGE FOREMAN, his two biggest fights
were JOE FRAZIER and MUHAMMAD ALI. 1 win, 1 loss. GEORGE went down at the hands
of JIMMY YOUNG, but whatever became of him? I don't think that FRAZIER would
have had much of a problem with YOUNG, nor would he have had much of a problem,
I feel, with RON LYLE, yet LYLE came very close to taking FOREMAN out and it is
a tribute to GEORGE that he could get himself up off the canvas and continue on
to finish LYLE(It's also a tribute to LYLE for creating one of the most exciting
heavyweight contests since FOREMAN/FRAZIER.)Maybe we could bring FRAZIER,
LYLE and SHAVERS out of retirement to settle this matter,create a mini
tournament with the winner challenging the victor of FOREMAN/HOLMES(I know that
LARRY is always ready to go). |
|6/24/05 10:56:21 PM|Gino M.|San Leandro, CA||gmast49@juno.com||||10|Hello,
friends. Back from work travel. I see one thing popping up that bothers me a
little, and I believe Kent, too, and a lot of you guys. It's when we call
fighters bums, stiffs, tomato cans and those other terms. Look. Anyone with the
balls to step into a ring and fight deserves at least some respect. This isn't
tennis or swimming that we're talking about, where no one is trying to hit you.
Anyone who has a real boxing match with a referee and judges for 3 rounds or 4
or 6 or 10 or 12 or 15 is someone I respect. I will not call him a bum or
anything else. OK? I'd like to ask the other guys (and gals) here who have
actually had fights -- real boxing matches -- if you agree. I had 61 but no pro
fights and it was something. I respected all my opponents and gave them credit,
whether their skills were excellent, average or poor. Second, we are talking
about the cream of the crop here. Each one of us had known probably 300 or 400
boxers in our time. Somebody like Kent or Jimmy, probably way over a thousand.
OK, how many of those guys were even good enough to fight in a semi? Maybe 20%
at the most. How many made it to main events, even in small cities anywhere? I
doubt if even 10%. From that 10%, not all were consistent winners, guys who
actually dominated their cities or states or countries. When we come to
fighters like Jumbo Cummings, Ron Stander, Gerry Cooney, Henry Cooper and others
that some of you don't think much of, these guys are still in the 98th
percentile. ANY CONTENDER IS AMONG THE BEST OF THE BEST OF THE BEST. The top
contenders and champions like Ali, Frazier, Holmes, Foreman, Quarry, Holyfield
and others are VERY, VERY RARE. A fraction of 1% at the top. Let's use that
as a framework, OK? Of all boxers, I was probably in the 8th or 9th percentile!