January 2002 - July 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

11-6) Folley was a former light-heavyweight once weighing as low as 178 pounds
for a professional fight. He had lost 7 times before coming into this fight with
Ali, 6 times by knockout. One of those losses was to Alejandro Lavorante (career
record 19-5), who only had 13 pro fights at that time. Folley would only win
half of his next 10 fights after losing to Ali before retiring. Why are the
great majority of Ali’s opponents of this inferior quality? Why is this not
talked about more? This was a title defense for the heavyweight championship of
the world. Folley was not a fit title challenger. Ali feasted on journeyman such
as this for most of his career. Ernie Terrell (45-9). Another highly
over-rated opponent of Ali. Who did he beat that was any good? Look at the
career records of some of his opponents; Tunney Hunsaker (15-15) failed to break
the .500 mark, Amos Lincoln (39-13-3) was hardly inspiring. Herb Siler was 15-12
this was Terrell’s 26th pro fight and he was still fighting bums. He won a split
decision over Cleveland Williams but was also knocked out by Williams. His only
significant victories were decisions over Eddie Machen (50-11-3), George Chuvalo
(73-18-2), and Doug Jones (30-10-1) none who were much better than journeymen
themselves, except for Machen who was marginally better. But the Machen that
lost to Terrell was on his downswing in his last 2 years of fighting. So we can
see that Terrell really beat no one special in his career. But there is
more to the story. Terrell managed to lose to a number of journeymen and even
fourth rate shoemakers in his career. He lost not once but twice to Johnny Gray
a 190 pounder with a career mark of 16-10-1. He was beaten by Wayne Bethea (28-
18-4). He also lost to Thad Spencer (32-13-1) and Manuel Ramos (25-29-3) had a
losing mark for his career. These fourth-raters beat Terrell as easily as had
Muhammad Ali who failed to score a knockdown or stop this big bum. Terrell was
also beaten by none other than the hapless Chuck Wepner and stopped in the first
round by Jeff Merritt. Ali’s win over Terrell hardly makes him great. Once again
we see that beating so called contenders whose ability is far below that of
their reputations is what forges the Ali legend. Cleveland Williams (78-
13-1). Williams was a big, strong, powerful puncher at one time, but alas not
when Ali fought him as he had a bullet inside of him as a victim in a shooting
incident. Williams was physically not the fighter he had been a few years
previous and was given a title opportunity as retirement pay. The win over
Williams was simply not the real Cleve and is therefore insignificant in making
a case for Ali as being a great fighter off this win. Karl Mildenberger
(56-6-3). Before facing Ali the German had previously been knocked out in seven
rounds by Helmut Ball for the German light-heavyweight title, and in one round
by Dick Richardson for the European heavyweight title. Despite his lack of
boxing ability and his rather fragile china chin he went into the 12th round
against the light-hitting Ali. This is so typical; a fighter who would not last
3 rounds with Joe Louis extends Ali and makes him look bad. Ali struggled to
finish his opponent in this fight. Mildenberger had his moments as in the 4th
round when he landed two jolting lefts to the liver and launched a two fisted
attack that drove Ali to the ropes. Ali won clearly but it took him far too long
to accomplish the task against a raw fighter of this low quality. Ali could not
knock him out quicker than a light-heavyweight could! This fight demonstrates
clearly what an abysmal puncher and finisher that Ali really was. At
6’0” and 201 lbs, Brian London was barely a full sized heavyweight. He was,
however, not a legitimate contender. His record was 35-13 at the time he faced
Ali. He finished with a journeyman’s record of 37-20-1. London was knocked out
11 times in his career. Every decent fighter he met in the ring stopped him. He
was even decisioned by light-heavyweight Willie Pastrano. There’s not much more
one can say about London. He was the typical Ali opponent. Another bum, ho hum.
How good was Henry Cooper ? He has been elevated because of his
performance against Ali in their first fight. In truth, he was never a good
fighter. He was 27-8-1 when Ali first faced him, and he had been knocked out or
stopped five times. One of those knockout losses was to Peter Bates whose career