January 2002 - July 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

on the confidence he had in his legendary ability than anything. Ali
underestimated Joe, and also Norton and Spinks and others as well. I don't think
he expected Jerry to lift him five feet off the canvas in their second fight
when he was trash-talking him either. He had to respect Jerry's ability against
the ropes and therefore could never finish him.I would add that Joe had a
REAL urge to pound Ali's bones in their fights. But more than that, Joe was
truly a big-time talent. When they both nearly died in their third fight,
I'm sure Ali was convinced of that...Kent, I responded to Jonathan
also.All of this talk of exercise has me jonesing to resume myself. I'm a
pretty trim 185, but my foot and ankle have been healing slowly now for about
six weeks. I'm not a very good couch potato ...I did not see Tarver-Jones,
but sure heard Tarver talk about it. There's no question he had the more
confidence of the two. Jones looks out of gas mentally and should
quit.Considering he's one of the very best in recent memory, I was surprised
how quickly he dropped from the high status he had. Tarver, however has proven
his talent also, clearly. Thanks.|
|10/17/05 09:50:04 AM|Willard|There||a@a.com||||10|Angelo, I was referring to
the first Ali/Frazier fight. In that fight, it didn't look like Ali hurt Frazier
once. |
|10/17/05 09:54:32 AM|Massimo|Roma||4||||10|I don't agree with Angelo about (or
regarding) the second Ali'-Frazier fight. I think Ali' did hurt Frazier in the
second round (but Joe was not defenseless) but that after 12 round the fight was
very close. Opinions.|
|10/17/05 09:58:15 AM|Massimo|Roma||4||||10|In Frazier-Ali' 1 I think Ali' did
hurt Frazier a little in the ninth round. At the beginning of the tenth round it
seemed like Ali' was going to win, but at that point Frazier's heart changed the
cards on the table. |
|10/17/05 11:39:05 AM|Angelo|Washington, DC||funktron@yahoo.com||||10|Willard:
Agreed, in the first fight, though Frazier absorbed punishment that later kept
him in the hospital, he wasn't ever in serious trouble or "hurt" in the sense of
being hit by individual hard punches. The cumulative affect was tough on
Frazier later, but he shook off the punches the night of the fight. Massimo:
The second Ali-Frazier fight was close, but in my opinion, objectively, Ali won
it on points. I think it was close enough to be competitive, but not close
enough to argue that Frazier won. Ditto for Ali-Norton II. I don't get when
people say "Norton won all three fights." Norton won the first one, and you
could make an intelligent appeal that he won the third, or that it should have
been a draw---but I think Ali did enough to win the second one. Close? Yes,
but if you asked judges who have never seen these fighters, and have no bias,
who won, my guess is that most would say Ali outclassed Norton and based on ring
generalship if nothing else, won the fight. One issue I had with Norton in the
trilogy, including in Yankee Stadium (III.), is that he sometimes swung wildly,
like an amatuer. When I score a fight, this matters to me. Ali always looked
very controlled, patient and deliberate. As well, Ali seemed purposeful against
Norton---yes, fighting defensively more than I'd like to see, but let's face it-
--when someone is wild, you tend to have a defensive posture. Ali fought well
by covering and backing up, finding Norton with jabs and avoiding Norton's
biggest punches. Ali did not ever go down, and I don't believe he suffered any
cuts either. He had the broken jaw in their first fight and basically absorbed
a lot of body punches in the third fight, and shook them off. I belive he
fought about 11 rounds in the first fight with a broken jaw, and Norton couldn't
take him out. And no, I don't belive Norton's assertion that the jaw was broken
in the 12th round. In any case, Norton did not win three fights against Ali.
The record shows that he was 1-2. And Ali haters could make a nice case for
"should have been" 2-1, but it's a joke to say Ali never beat the guy. |
|10/17/05 03:09:13 PM|Willard|a||a||||10|Like I said, I have no bias against Ali
the boxer. I do hate the man that treated his (black) opponents like crap. As