January 2002 - July 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

posts, Angelo. Someone was posting using my name some time ago, too. Whoever was
impersonating you asks about me posting even though I'm supposed to be on
vacation. Seems this guy lives in a zoo and hasn't heard of internet
cafes.Been passing some time reading the latest book on Ali written by
Muhammad and his daughter. Ali still insists that he didn't get Parkinson's from
boxing; says he would have got it anyway regardless. I think boxing accelerated
the disease and that he would have probably got it later in life
anyway.Ali also says that he regrets calling Frazier names. He says that
he was trying to promote interest in the fight but went too far and apologizes
to Joe in a poem he wrote for the book.He also again stated that he was
wrong to say that all white men are devils. According to Ali, Malcolm X told him
that it wasn't about colour but about heart. Elijah Muhammad was the one saying
white men are devils. Ali regrets that he turned his back on Malcolm X just
before his assasination.Finally, Ali says that of all the guys he
fought, Liston was the scariest, Foreman the strongest, Patterson the most
skilled, and Frazier the toughest. It's a good read.|
|1/27/06 10:21:57 AM|Kent|Murrieta, Ca||kentallenent@aol.com||||10|Mr. Otto, I
had chances to meet Jack Quarry but I never went to meet him and I regret it
now as the man I am sure had some good insight on his sons' as boxers and as
people.I know Jack took some heat for his management skills but his sons
had to have learned their craft from somewhere and I am sure Jack had a lot to
do with it.|
|1/27/06 10:35:34 AM|Kent|Murrieta, Ca||kentallenent@aol.com||||10|Noam, there
is evidense that Puglistica Dementia can have the same sympthoms as Parkinson's
disease or Altzheimer's disease and that people who have a family history of
these ailments are more likely to become "punch drunk" if they become fighters
and although they may get these diseases later in life they are more likely to
be striken sooner if they box or even play other contact sports such as
football.Muhammad Ali may have got his disease anyway but I do believe
boxing brought it on earlier than he would have got it.|
|1/27/06 11:32:28 AM|Angelo|Washington, DC||funktron@yahoo.com||||10|Kent: I
think you're right and Noam made a similar observation. Ali's concern has
always been "Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater." and in a 1980's Jet
Magazine interview, he expressed concern that after many decades of boxers being
"punch drunk" after long careers, suddenly forces were calling for the
abolishment of boxing. I've written this before---Ali felt and probably still
feels that boxing is something that gets disadvantaged and troubled kids off the
streets and into gyms and this is a benefit in and of itself. Further, a small
percentage of these kids end up making a living or earning substantial extra
income by fighting professionally, and an even smaller percentage of them hit it
big. Ali stated that when it was whites who enjoyed financial fruits from
boxing, promoting it, managing fighters, etc., there were still terrible risks
and injuries, but no one called for abolishment. Suddenly, when black people
began to dominate the sport both as participants and also managers/promoters,
the AMA, government, "action groups" and others called the sport cruel and "we
must put an end to it." I totally buy into what Ali observed. The sport can
and should be made safer, but many, many sports and activities (as you pointed
out, including football) kill people, paralyze people, cause numerous multiple
concusions, etc. |
|1/27/06 11:52:04 AM|Anonymous| -|| -||||10| As always, Ali is right on. As
soon as blacks begin to benefit from boxing, Whitey tries to abolish the sport.
Thank goodness Ali and Jet magazine were there to expose another vast right wing
conspiracy. |
|1/27/06 01:08:35 PM|Angelo|Washington, DC||funktron||||10|Anon: Could have
been total coinsidence or maybe we just became "civilized" in the 70's.
Whatever. Even if you throw out the racial angle, I still think we should work
to make boxing safer, not to outlaw it.|