January 2002 - October 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

NICE GUY WHO MANAGED AMONG OTHERS, TIGER JONES IN THE 50'S. AROUND 1968 BURTON
STARTED FIGHTING AS LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT. I SAW HIM FIGHT JIMMY DUPREE ON THE
UNDERCARD OF THE DICK TIGER-FRANKIE DEPAULA CARD IN OCT OF 1968. AT THAT TIME
JIMMY DUPREE WAS GOING WELL AND HE TOO HAD TROUBLE GETTING FIGHTS. SO THE FIGHT
WAS A NATURAL RIGHT? WRONG! IT WAS A DULL FIGHT AND THEY FOUGHT TO A DRAW.
DUPREE FREELY ADMITTED AFTER THE FIGHT HE WAS CAUTIOUS OF BURTON BECAUSE OF
BURTONS REPUTATION, AND APPARENTLY BURTON FELT THE SAME WAY ABOUT DUPREE'S
REPUTATION. WELL NOW WE MOVE TO OCT 1969, AND BURTON IS FIGHTING AS A
HEAVYWEIGHT, BECAUSE HE COULD NOT GET FIGHTS AS A LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT. HE WAS
BEATING LUIS PIRES PRETTY HANDILY, UNTIL PIRES CAUGHT HIM IN THE 7TH ROUND AND
KNOCKED HIM OUT. BURTON FOUGHT PIRES ONE MORE TIME AND WAS KNOCKED OUT AGAIN.
GOD BLESSED BURTON, HE GAVE HIM THE WISDOM TO CALL IT A CAREER, AND BURTON NEVER
FOUGHT AGAIN.A LITTLE HISTORY ON THE SAME NIGHT BURTON WAS KNOCKED OUT
BY PIRES, OCT.31, 1969. ANOTHER FAVORITE OF MINE FOREST WARD WAS KNOCKED OUT BY
BILL DROVER, THAT WAS WARD'S LAST FIGHT TOO. MIKE QUARRY WON A TOUGH 8 RD
DECISION AGAINST RUBEN FIGUEROA, THAT NIGHT. THIS WAS A REMATCH, THEY FOUGHT A
CLOSE FIGHT IN JUNE ON THE UNDERCARD OF QUARRY-FRAZIER. INTERESTINGLY THERE WAS
ALMOST A RIOT IN THE GARDEN WHEN THE DECISION WAS ANNOUNCED IN QUARRY'S FAVOR.
AMONG THE CONTRIBUTUING FACTORS TO THE NEAR RIOT WERE:#1 THE LATIN FANS IN THE
AUDIENCE WHO THOUGHT FIGUEROA WAS ROBBED, #2 THE ALCOHOL THEY CONSUMED, AND
LASTLY #3 MUHAMMAD ALI WAS IN THE AUDIENCE AND HE WAS INCITING THE LATINS.
BEFORE ANYONE ATTACKS ME FOR SOILING THE NAME OF MUHAMMAD ALI, REMEMBER THIS WAS
OCT. OF 1969, AND ALI WAS VEHEMENT ANTI WHITE, ANTI ESTABLISHMENT BLACK MUSLIM
AT THAT TIME. GUESS WHAT PROBABLY PREVENTED THR RIOT. THER WAS ONE MORE FIGHT
LEFT, THE MAIN EVENT, GEORGE FOREMAN AGAINST ROBERTO DAVILLA. THE FANS WANTED TO
SEE THE MAIN EVENT SO THEY DID NOT RIOT. NO THANKS TO MUHAMMAD ALI. SORRY
FOR BEING SO LONG WINDED BUT SEEING WILLIE BURTONS NAME BROUGHT BACK LONG LOST
MEMORIES. |
|3/6/03 02:12:29 PM|John Gerard|NYC||rock289z@yahoo.com||||10|FOREST: Thanks so
much for all that info on Willie Burton. I am glad Willie got out when it was
time to. I hope he is doing very well and is aware of how many good memories he
gave the fans. Another guy who I thought was going places but never did was the
Florida giantAl Jones (not Memphis Al Jones) who fought in the Miami area in
the late 60's under Chrisand Angelo Dundee. He was a 6'6" southpaw and look
pretty good for a while. |
|3/6/03 07:22:45 PM|FOREST WARD|SOUTH CAROLINA||JOEKEVIN@CS.COM||||6|JOHN, WHEN
I READ YOUR POSTS I FEEL LIKE I AM LOOKING IN A MIRROR. I OFTEN WONDERED ABOUT
AL JONES MYSELF. TEN YEARS AGO BUMPED INTO BOXING HISTORIAN HANK KAPLAN OF
MIAMI, AND I ASKED HIM ABOUT AL JONES, AND WHAT HAPPENNED? WELL, THE 1ST THING
YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT HANK KAPLAN IS THAT HE IS A GENTLEMAN, AND HE DOES NOT TALK
BAD ABOUT ANYONE. THAT BEING THE CASE, I DID NOT LEARN TOO MUCH! ALTHOUGH HANK
SAID, THAT AT ONE POINT IN AL JONES CAREER HE WON A SETTLEMENT IN A CAR
ACCIDENT, AND THIS MAY HAVE DULLED HIS AMBITION. READING BETWEEN THE LINES IF
YOU LOOK CLOSELY AT AL JONES RECORD YOU SEE THAT HE FOUGHT A LOT OF JOURNEY MEN,
AND ALMOST ALWAYS IN MIAMI BEACH. INCLUDING A DRAW WITH ZORA FOLLEY IN 1968
(FOLLEY HAD TO BE CLOSE 40 AT THE TIME); AND A DRAW WITH LOUIS PIREZ (WILLIE
BURTONS CONQUERER) IN 1970. IF HE GOT A DRAW IN HIS HOMETOWN WITH THESE GUYS HE
PROBABLY LOST THE FIGHT. HE WAS ALSO A SOUTHPAW, THAT OF COURSE DID NOT HELP
HIS CAREER.|
|3/6/03 07:23:02 PM|FOREST WARD|SOUTH CAROLINA||JOEKEVIN@CS.COM||||6|JOHN, WHEN
I READ YOUR POSTS I FEEL LIKE I AM LOOKING IN A MIRROR. I OFTEN WONDERED ABOUT
AL JONES MYSELF. TEN YEARS AGO BUMPED INTO BOXING HISTORIAN HANK KAPLAN OF
MIAMI, AND I ASKED HIM ABOUT AL JONES, AND WHAT HAPPENNED? WELL, THE 1ST THING
YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT HANK KAPLAN IS THAT HE IS A GENTLEMAN, AND HE DOES NOT TALK
BAD ABOUT ANYONE. THAT BEING THE CASE, I DID NOT LEARN TOO MUCH! ALTHOUGH HANK
SAID, THAT AT ONE POINT IN AL JONES CAREER HE WON A SETTLEMENT IN A CAR
ACCIDENT, AND THIS MAY HAVE DULLED HIS AMBITION. READING BETWEEN THE LINES IF