January 2002 - July 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

and scoring heavily with relatively light hitting, but lots of piling up the
points. For example, watching Young outbox Foreman was amazing. And I watched
Eddie Gregory pitch shutouts, winning just about every round by pure boxing
technique.Muhammad Ali's early fights, with all the speed, jabs and
footwork, were also amazing to witness.But the caveman in me loves watching
someone like Foreman plow through an opponent, intimidate them and drop them in
two rounds. It's why Tyson's fights were so compelling. I have to say, Michael
Spinks was beaten before the bell started the fight. If you watch that "fight"
(all one minute of it), Tyson knocked Spinks out with punches that weren't as
destructive as other people hit Spinks with, and certainly far fewer clean
punches than Holmes or Cooney landed on Spinks. But the fact of the matter is
that Spinks was scared to death of Tyson and in my mind, took a knee early to
avoid being pounded out.Also, before we ban boxing, we should take a closer
look at the "Tough Man" competitions. Has anyone heard of the recent case in
Florida where a 31 year old woman (mother of two) was killed in a match? The
girl she was fighting was I think younger and more athletic (even though she was
lighter weight). Anyway, I didn't see the fight, but heard about it on two
different radio programs. Apparently, it was a total mismatch and lasted into
the third round. The lady was being hit by brutal punches to the head, even
turned around and tryed to run from the attack but the other woman followed her
and hit her from behind, very hard. She collapsed and later died.Several
men have also been killed in these competitions, because the matches are
lopsided and not regulated safely. It bothers me that the line blurs and good
boxing is lumped together with sideshows like the toughman contests. I have to
admit to watching one on TV---and it was like a train wreck---you know you
shouldn't look but you can't help being interested. |
|9/8/03 05:28:35 PM|Gerry Schultz|Cleveland, Ohio||jgschultz11@msn.com||||9|Have
to disagree with you ,Road'ette. Jerry clearly, to me at least, was a better
boxer than Joe, and his combination of aggressive counterpunching and slugging
had Joe behind early in both fights. He made Joe pick it up a gear and put the
less-conditioned Quarry away in fightI. A wicked body shot badly hurt Jerry in
fight II, or Jerry would have had a chance to win by boxing Joe, who he hit
often. Don't agree Jerry was better boxer than Ali, especially defensively. I
do think Jerry was actually a better athlete, as his 'Superstars' performances
indicate. Ali had a birth defect in his left foot, which hindered him not at all
in the ring, but kept out of other sports, I believe. Guys, can you confirm this
for me?|
|9/9/03 07:35:36 AM|Massimo|Rome||Francesco Damiani better than
Ali'.com||||10|Both Joe Frazier and Earnie Shavers reached the peak of their
careers in 1971. A fight between these two guys, in that year, would have been a
war ! The winner ? It's hard to decide but... I have to say Joe !|
|9/9/03 10:52:24 AM|Angelo|Washington, DC||funktron@yahoo.com||||10|I think
Shavers reached his peak much later than 1971---probably around 1977 or even
later. He became a more patient fighter, better conditioned to be effective
later into a fight and able to pace himself. He also overcame management
problems and fought with more determination. In 1971, I think Shavers was more
of a brawler/raw puncher with very limited technique.By the mid to late
70's, he was much more focused and experienced. In a 1971 fight, Frazier would
win by middle round TKO because Earnie would run out of gas. But a 1971 Frazier
vs. a 1977 Shavers might be more interesting. I could see Shavers being much
more selective with his punches, waiting for openings that would allow for bombs
to land on Frazier. I still would have to pick Frazier to pull it out, but with
significantly more problems. But as in any Earnie Shavers bout, he'd have a
punchers chance. If he managed to connect hard on Frazier like Foreman did, you
never know how it would have played out. I think Foreman was much more
relentless. After the first knockdown of Frazier, he became a killer and
started bouncing Joe around the ring. I'm not so sure Shavers could make it