January 2002 - July 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

case may be). Fact is, after "Superfight 1" Ali remained extremely busy, even
after winning the title, and fought the tough guys like Norton and Frazier and
also took on everyone else I mentioned, along with the Evangilistas and Richard
Dunns of the world---the Chuck Wepners and Pierre-Coopmans too. Meanwhile,
Frazier seemingly avoided confrontations with the guys Ali was giving title
shots to. And as for Ken Norton, he didn't fight Frazier, he was pummeled by
Foreman, didn't fight Lyle, managed a decision against Young and was taken out
in two minutes by Shavers later on. But it's curious to me that Norton didn't
ever fight Lyle and fought Young and Shavers AFTER he had the chance against Ali
in 1976. Also, Norton was pitted against Lorenzo Zanon before the Jimmy Young
fight. Not Lyle or Shavers, but Lorenzo Zanon. Frazier and Norton discovered
that they had the chin and stamina to avoid being KOed by Ali, and the styles to
push Ali to the limit, so they apparently were very cautious with regard to
mixing it up with up and coming heavyweights, instead deciding to bide their
time waiting for rematches with Ali (and in the ultimate cooperation, wouldn't
even fight eachother). Well, Norton did take on undefeated Duane Bobick and at
that point, no one knew how good or bad Bobick was, so Norton was gambling a
little there. But Frazier? One more time, in the mid-70's while Ali was taking
on everyone, including Antonio Inoki, where was Joe? |
|8/17/04 11:33:27 PM|Timana|Auckland||kiwi@hotmail.com||||10|Fran, you're
kidding about Frazier looking "sharp", right ? The guy is in very poor health.
He is an alcoholic and a diabetic. Last photograph I saw he looked terrible.
Last time I heard him speak he was hard to understand. Sad, and I truly wish it
weren't so, but it is. You seem to be agreeing that Frazier picked his
fights after the first Ali bout in 1971.In 1971, when he fought Ali,
Frazier was only 27. Apart from two exhibitions in 1971, he didn't fight again
that year. Yet Ali had three more fights in 1971 (Eliis, Mathis, and
Blin).And look at 1972. Frazier only fought Daniels and Stander. Talk
about taking the soft options, because that same year Ali fought Foster,
Chuvalo, Quarry, Lewis, Patterson, and Foster. No rest for the brave.In
1973 Frazier fought Foreman and Bugner. Ali fought Bugner, Norton, Norton, and
Lubbers.Ali was two years older than Frazier, had spent three years out
of the ring, but he ducked no one. Yet Frazier hardly fought at all.
Great fighters don't pick and chose. They back their ability and fight
the best and then the next best. Just like Ali did.Fran, you say that
Frazier was the best 1968 to 1971. That was only because Ali was in exile. Do
you really think that Frazier in that period would have beaten Ali ? In your
heart of hearts ?Frazier was very particular about who he fought. During
Ali's absence, the WBA came up with an eliminator to decide Ali's successor.
There were eight fighters on the list - Frazier, Patterson, Thad Spencer, Ellis,
Bonavena, Ernie Terrell, Mildenberger, and Quarry.But this wasn't good
enough for Joe. He wouldn't go in it. He wouldn't fight eliminators. Everyone
else was game to do it, but not Joe.As it was, Frazier eventually (after
the tournament was over) only fought 3 of the 7 fighters on that list. Ali came
back in 1971. Of the 8 people on the list, Ali fought 7 of them. The only one he
missed was Thad Spencer. No picking and choosing for him.Frazier's
record does not substantiate what many of you guys are saying about him. Sue he
was great in his fights against Ali, but take those out and there's not much
else there. No one ever saw Ali or Marciano manhandled in a fight the
way Joe was against Foreman. Louis was never humiliated in his prime like
Foreman did to Frazier.The Foreman thrashings put Frazier's historical
ranking in perspective, while his failure to fight the best of his era only
serves to raise questions about him generally. |
|8/18/04 01:04:07 AM|Kent|La Habra, Ca||kentallenent@aol.com||||10|Angelo, my
point is, Lyle, Young and Shavers were contenders by 1975 but not before then.
Again, Jerry beat both Lyle and Shavers otherwise I believe Frazier would have
fought one of them at least if one of them had beaten Jerry but he fought Jerry