January 2002 - July 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

embarrassing, humiliating. Ali never looked so clueless on what to do in any
fight. Young won that fight. No one who saw it live or who watches the film can
say any different. It was an out and out robbery and Young was in utter shock
and disbelief at the decision. So was the audience. The NY Times reported that
the decision was “loudly booed by most of the 12, 472 spectators attending the
home televised bout at the Capitol Center.” The NY Times scored the bout for
Young. The Young fiasco is another loss by Ali to an inexperienced boxer who had
semblance of boxing skill. As we will see, Ali’s reputation is indeed
mythic, and this construction is in fact just one of numerous reconstructions,
as Ali’s penchant for disappointing fans and experts – expressed loudly in boos,
jeers, and bad reviews –(as in the Young and Norton fights) had to be
continually glossed over in order to manufacture an enduring myth of greatness.
Indeed, Ali only appears to us in history as a legend because of the manner in
which his legacy has been constructed by certain sportswriters who see their job
as manufacturing fables for whom they must believe are the ignorant masses
rather than accurately reporting history. Jean Pierre Coopman (36-16).
The worst heavyweight title challenger of all time, a fighter who had all of his
pro fights in Belgium when he was granted a shot at Ali’s title -undeservedly
so. He was knocked out by Ireno Werleman (4-16-1) before facing Ali. He lost to
every journeyman he faced. Fighters such as Coopman made Ali look great. The
reality is he only looked great because Coopman was a fourth-rate boxer of
shoddy skills, and no chin, who beat nobody. Joe Frazier (32-4). The
best all around fighter Ali faced, but the reality is Ali never convincingly
beat him. That’s right. You heard correctly. Frazier clearly won the first fight
and gave Ali the worse thumping of his career. Frazier had Ali down and almost
out in the 11th (the knockdown was ruled a slip) and down on his back in the
15th. Ali’s trainer Angelo Dundee even admitted that only the fact that Ali
landed on the seat of his pants woke him up. As decisive a victory as any
heavyweight champion has scored over another. The simple fact is in the biggest
political fight of his career Joe Louis annihilated his opponent. Ali lost the
biggest fight of his career. Frazier also deserved the decision in the second
fight. The New York Times' Red Smith and Dave Anderson both thought Frazier had
won. Frazier was mugged and robbed by Ali in that fight. The judges gave Ali a
gift in this fight because they wanted to match Ali and Foreman for a big money
fight for the title. The third fight was a robbery too. If Eddie Futch would
have just let Frazier stand up between the 14th and 15th rounds Ali would have
quit like he did against Holmes. He collapsed right afterwards. Sports
Illustrated reported that he was actually ready to quit after the 10th round
against Frazier. He took such a terrible beating he said it was “the closest
thing to death” that he ever experienced. Ali’s Parkinson’s was caused by
Frazier’s punches. This is not too difficult to see. Frazier is really 3-0
against Ali and “Smokin” Joe believes that in his heart. But there is
more to the story. Ali’s fight with Frazier also demonstrated Ali’s
vulnerability to left hooks. Throughout his career Ali never learned to block a
left hook. This is particularly evident in his fights with Frazier. Ali knew
that Frazier was going to throw the left hook and he never did learn to block
it! The left hook is the easiest punch to learn to block in boxing. But Ali did
not learn how to do it in three fights with Frazier despite the fact that he
knew it was coming every time. This shows that Ali’s ability to adapt and learn
is vastly overrated. He could not learn the most basic of boxing skills.
Joe Bugner (69-13). Bugner could box a little, punch a little but
did neither particularly well. Bugner’s career record was that of an erratic
journeyman beating third raters such as Manuel Ramos, Chuck Wepner, Henry
Cooper, Brian London and Ali’s sparring partner Jimmy Ellis but losing to Dick
Hall, Jack Bodell, Larry Middleton, Ron Lyle and even amateur Marvis Frazier.
Bugner was not an inexperienced amateur like Spinks and Young who beat Ali, nor
was he a one-dimensional slugger like Lyle and Shavers, he was simply a