January 2002 - July 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

clearly. Ali proved that he couldn’t break an egg by failing to knock out this
glass-jawed winging Neanderthal. Ali was hurt several times in this fight,
staggered and rubbery legged but his opponent a one punch at time over-rated
shoemaker could not finish the job that a real fighter would. Alfredo
Evangelista (62-13), a typical talent-less European fighter with no skills. This
bum twice lost to Lorenzo Zanon (27-9-3 with only 9 ko’s). In fact his last
fight was a loss to Zanon. Evangelista coming in to face Ali had never before
been beyond 8 rounds. The NY Times reported that Evangelista looked “soft” at
the weigh in and didn’t look like a real fighter. ONCE AGAIN we see that Ali
prefers to defend his title against unproven inexperienced opposition or
talentless one-dimensional punchers rather than boxers of any real skill who
always troubled him. Evangelista lost to every notable heavyweight he
fought. He was knocked out by none other than amateur Leon Spinks in only 5
rounds and was also starched in 2 by Ali imitator Greg Page. Anders Eklund (19-
5) also knocked him out. This worthless pile of crap made Ali look like a fool.
Although Ali clearly won the Times wrote that Ali “did not look sharp” in this
fight. Why isn’t Ali criticized for making such fights? Why is the large
number of title defenses in the record book not problematized in such a manner
as to raise concerns about Ali’s practice of holding up blatantly unqualified
journeymen as legitimate contenders for the crown? It’s not just about the
numbers. It’s about the quality of opposition. And we will see many more faces
like Evangelista’s. Ken Norton (42-7). Norton was never as good as his
reputation. He was in fact “chinny” being knocked out by every big puncher he
faced including Jose Luis Garcia, George Foreman, Shavers, and Gerry Cooney. He
was even down twice against Scott LeDoux who was not a big puncher. He should
have lost that fight but was given a gift draw. Norton ducked Frazier and Lyle
because he knew what the result would be. The films prove that Norton won 2 of 3
fights against Ali. Norton broke the big-mouthed Ali’s jaw in the first fight
and embarrassed him. He also won the third fight. Everyone knows Norton was
robbed in this fight except the hardcore Ali worshippers who think he was a god.
Norton was slow-footed, even dragged his rear foot yet he had no trouble hitting
Ali, cutting the ring and driving him to the ropes. He even out-jabbed Ali most
of the time because he knew how to block a jab and counter-jab while Ali never
in his entire career learned to block a jab. Ali in three fights never
understood that it was the jab of Norton that gave him so much trouble. Norton
was a better boxer than Ali and realistically beat him 2 of 3 times. Norton’s
reputation has been enhanced because he did beat the overrated Ali (and of
course, out of the need to build up the legend of another overrated heavyweight
named Larry Holmes). Richard Dunn (33-12). How did this guy get a title
shot? He was knocked out 9 times in his career. His chin was so bad that even a
powder puff puncher like Ali was able to floor him 5 times. Of course Ali had to
knock him down that many times because he didn’t have a real shock punch.
Nobodies such as Danny McAlinden (in his pro debut), George Dulaire (8-18-4),
Rocky Campbell (18-11-1) as well as Joe Bugner all had first round knockouts
over Dunn. Ali definitely was not as good a puncher as those guys. The results
speak for themselves. Jimmy Young (33-14). His record isn’t much better
than Dunn’s looking at the numbers. At the time Young had only 17 wins as well
as 4 defeats and a couple of draws. Young was such an inexperienced opponent the
common question of the day was “Who is Jimmy Young?” Young was a 15-1 underdog
in this fight. Young actually beat Muhammad Ali. Everyone knows this.
This fight really exposed Ali. This fight proved that Ali did not know how to
fight as an aggressor. This was the first time in his career Ali actually fought
a boxer with some decent defensive skills and wasn’t just a puncher who came to
him. So what happened? Ali did not know how to cut the ring on an evasive
opponent and was never able to track him down. Ali simply followed him around
the ring and got outworked and out hustled. What Ali really needed in this fight
was body punching. Something he did not know how to do. The result was