- 5/25/2025
The rise and fall of one of the best heavyweight boxing contenders.
Narrated by Bert Sugar
Narrated by Bert Sugar
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00A barrel of power bomber, fourth round knockdown by Quarry, Oscar is in trouble, it's Nick Brown out of his face, a good right by Quarry, a good right by Quarry, that hurts great, Ali's all business in there now, foul most famous, the fight is over, a game on the floor.
00:18Madison Square Garden, the most firmest punch ball in boxing history, and if these wares could talk, they'd tell you about the golden age of everyone's great 60s, early 70s, with names like Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazer, George Borman, Ken Norton, Andy Shader, Jimmy Ellis, Matt Foster, Oscar Bonaventure, George Shapiro, all fought here.
00:46And one of the most popular of all, a perennial garden favorite, who fought in this very ring several times, Jerry Quarry.
01:01Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports.
01:05Jerry Quarry's career was a checkerboard career, it wasn't singular, it wasn't as if it was one end to another, it started out brilliantly.
01:26As an amateur, he was 170 and 13, he goes to the 1965 Golden Globes Finals, heavyweight, and wins 5 out of 5 all by a knockout, a record never to be broken.
01:41Turns pro the same year, not his decision, his father Jack's, they basically wanted him as a pro to make money, didn't want to wait for the 68 Olympics, wanted money now.
01:521966, next year, 20 fights, undefeated, goes in against Eddie Machen, wrong fight, fights wrong fight, undue train, loses for the first time.
02:04Quarry is down, but he's not down forever.
02:06By 1967, he's come back.
02:09The WBA has stripped Muhammad Ali of his championship for having an elimination contest.
02:16Quarry fights Floyd Patterson twice.
02:18But he does not follow.
02:22The first fight in the elimination contest is a draw, albeit, Quarry has knocked down Patterson twice.
02:29He does not follow.
02:31Patterson's been thrown twice.
02:3450 seconds remaining.
02:38Patterson in deep trouble.
02:40Two match, second fight.
02:43Quarry knocks Patterson down twice again.
02:45This time he gets a receipt.
02:48Oh, just in the first fight, the second now, the chopping light.
02:55There's the left and then the chopping light.
02:57Patterson swinging back and Danville's batted there again for the short fight.
03:01And by 1967, he is dissecting people like Todd Spencer, number one rated contender.
03:14I am the next halfway champion of the world.
03:16There's no doubt in my mind it should be in Jerry Quar's nobody else's mind.
03:20But I'm the baddest man tonight.
03:23Jerry Quar cannot box with me.
03:24I'm a superior boxer.
03:26Well, if that's trying to prove a part to himself, not me, because how long is it what he's got to say?
03:31He has done it.
03:32He is a clicking bag for Quarry at this moment.
03:37Oh.
03:38By the end of the next year, 68, he's fighting Jimmy Ellis for the WBA Vacant Heavyweight Championship.
03:59With a broken back, a broken back that he got in a bar fight at his father's bar, the neutral corner.
04:06I thought Jerry Quar was a good fighter, you know.
04:14He said that he could beat a lot of guys.
04:17Jerry Quar, he can punch.
04:19I'll give him the credit.
04:20He did hit me a couple of good shots.
04:22And he did hurt me a couple of good times.
04:24So I started backing up.
04:25When he started cornering me, I really unloaded.
04:26In fact, I went up for cut.
04:28I mean, leading like that.
04:29I had a lot of confidence in myself because I used to be all these foreign partners.
04:35And I know when I can give him a trouble and give him a hard time, I'm going to give the other guy a whole lot of trouble.
04:39So that's why I felt when I fought Jimmy Quar today that he just couldn't beat me because I wasn't going to let him beat him.
04:44He loses a decision.
04:46Jerry Quarry, true to his meaning as a real warrior and a proud warrior, says,
04:51Had they given me the decision, I would have given the belt back.
04:54And now by 1969, he beats the number one ranked contender right here again, Madison Square Garden Buster Mathis.
05:07He gets a fight with Joe Frazier for the New York State Athletic Commission's Heavyweight Championship.
05:12The first round is unbe-eth-elievable.
05:17Quarry, punching.
05:18So against the ropes, a lot of punches thrown in this first round.
05:23A good left by Frazier and a good counterpunch right by Quarry.
05:26But two warriors go head-to-head like Drew Bull, Moose and Heath.
05:33It's hunch-to-punch.
05:35Slugger-to-slugger.
05:37Right by Quarry.
05:38The Quarry was on its feet.
05:41This is the greatest round of boxing you have ever seen.
05:44Thirty seconds left in the first round.
05:46The two men trading punches throughout the round.
05:50Good left by Quarry.
05:51Jerry was a tough guy.
05:53Jerry comes to fight.
05:56No!
05:57Frazier has gone by Quarry with lefts and rights.
06:00And if Jerry didn't have a soft skin, I think Jerry would be a champion in the world.
06:06But most of the time, Jerry would stop in a cut.
06:09Unfortunately for Jerry, he may stop the fight in the seventh round.
06:13First time a fight of Quarry's has been stopped on a cut.
06:17Which is meaningful.
06:18Because there'll be more.
06:19And after Joe Frazee fights George Chavalo.
06:23George Chavalo's greatest punch was the left jaw to the right glove.
06:26As far as getting a title shot was concerned, he still had to beat me, I think, to get a title shot.
06:31He had to earn his way back in to get a title shot.
06:33It was a very tough fight.
06:35I think I got off to an early start.
06:36Then he started to come on.
06:37And then my eye gave me a little trouble.
06:39My eye ballooned.
06:41And actually by the end of the fifth round, my eye was like,
06:44it looked like a half a grapefruit had been slapped onto my eye.
06:47Fortunately, the fight went on.
06:48And I started to shoot him.
06:50And I started to come up to that.
06:52Left, right, left, right.
06:53And the last right, really, I rocked Jerry.
06:56And I beat him to the punch of the left foot.
06:57And I hit him high on the head, right about here.
06:59Just the temple.
07:02And Quarry is down.
07:05Quarry taking the mandatory eight count.
07:08Ten seconds to go in round seven.
07:15Oh, no.
07:16Oh, no.
07:18He misread the count.
07:20He's knocked out.
07:21We don't know what happened.
07:23But whatever it was, was strange for the capital S.
07:27He's lost to George Shavalo.
07:29Of all the people you don't lose to.
07:33He is the gatekeeper to the heavyweight crown.
07:35He's lost to George Shavalo.
07:40But by 1970, he comes back in this same ring.
07:43And he fights the number one Riddick contender again.
07:46All knockouts, all wins, a man named Matt Foster.
07:50And he stops him in six, right here in this ring.
07:52Oh, I can't.
07:54It melts.
08:00Also holding on.
08:03Walters, panorammy, right eye.
08:22The referee is helping the fight.
08:29The referee is helping the fight.
08:32And the winner.
08:34By a knockout.
08:35And the sixth round is Derek Quarry.
08:38Derek, congratulations.
08:40And I think a superb victory over a fine platter, Matt Foster.
08:44And I want to know how you feel.
08:46I'm a little tired, but he can push like heck.
08:48I bet he can.
08:49That begets him in 1970, because he's the only one of the top ten rated heavyweights
08:57to offer up to fight a comebacking Muhammad Ali in Atlanta.
09:02Quarry had had problems up to that fight.
09:04He was threatened.
09:05He was shot at.
09:06A white man is fighting a black man in Atlanta, Georgia.
09:09The black man failed to step forward for the draft, but Quarry took the fight.
09:14Ali's ripping left jab opens a cut over Quarry's left eye, and Quarry comes right back.
09:21By the third round, actually carrying the second round, it punches to the body.
09:27He's cut.
09:29You can see the bone.
09:32Eddie Benton, his trainer, stops the fight.
09:35The cut has stolen Joe Quarry's potential to beat Muhammad Ali.
09:41And once again, he's down.
09:44How many times can this man go down and come back?
09:47But he went down.
09:48Come 71.
09:49The indomitable.
09:51The indestructible.
09:52The unsinkable.
09:54Jerry Quarry is sent over to England as another sacrificial lamb.
09:58That seems to be his position, his place, his point.
10:03He's going to fight the British heavyweight champion.
10:06And in 63 seconds, not canal.
10:09By 1972, he's risen to the top of the heavyweight elite class.
10:14A great class indeed.
10:16And he's fighting Muhammad Ali a second time.
10:19This time in state line, Nevada.
10:21I'm the greatest.
10:22I'm the prettiest.
10:23You can't walk me.
10:24I'm the best.
10:25I'm the real heavyweight champion of the world.
10:27My name is Muhammad Quarry.
10:29Unfortunately for Jerry, on the undercard of his fight against Ali,
10:33his brother Mike was fighting for the light heavyweight championship against Bob Foster.
10:39And at the bell ending the fourth round, Foster hit him with a bodacious left hook.
10:43Mike is lying there.
10:45The thought is he's dead.
10:47His praise on Quarry's mind.
10:49He comes in against Ali.
10:51He doesn't put up a fight.
10:53He puts up a defensive match to survive and loses.
10:57This isn't Quarry.
11:21He's now lost to Ali twice.
11:23Jerry Quarry has to come back.
11:25Has to fight.
11:27Has to be a prime contender.
11:29And he gets it in the next year, 1973, when he fights Ron Lyre.
11:34And that the winner will go on to meet George Squirrelman for the title.
11:40I have the title for some kind of a rope.
11:43I have one foot fight Quarry.
11:45Quarry had them on the rope.
11:46Ron was the highest heavyweight in the division at the time.
11:51Big, small guy, undefeated.
11:53And Jerry went into the fight.
11:55Big under Jerry in the fight.
11:57And it just held Ron Lyre like a baby.
12:00Aubrey to Jerry Quarry was the best counterpuncher in my division.
12:03He was probably the only one that I intentionally avoided when I became headweight champion of the world.
12:09There it is.
12:11The twelfth and final round is over.
12:13Quarry has no problems with him.
12:15Quarry beats him.
12:16And in the same year, he fights.
12:19Probably he's the most bodacious, fearful puncher in the history of the heavyweight division.
12:24Ernie Shaver.
12:25This is a move that would have pissed through a wall.
12:27I feel that I would knock Jerry out.
12:29I just came up for a good height.
12:30I mean, Jimmy Ellis, a knucklehead in the first round.
12:34I may have taken Jerry a little lightly.
12:36He said that he wasn't as good as he was supposed to have been, but he was.
12:40Jerry right here, most guys would go.
12:42If you don't fall, I see what's holding him up.
12:44Jerry right here, he came in back and gave me like two people.
12:47I just stopped me.
12:48The result, a one-round knockout.
12:50By Jerry Bowe.
12:53Hey, hey.
12:54How do you have a move?
12:55It has a five win.
13:06More than a minute to throw in the log.
13:08Shabbers is in trouble.
13:13I'll vote Shabbers.
13:16Jerry Quarry again is the number one-rated contender.
13:19And in all this time, Ring Magazine, in a poll, has voted him.
13:25For four straight years, the most popular boxer in the world at that time.
13:30And he comes back the next year, and he's already beaten Shavers and Lyle and back Foster.
13:37And he earns another shot at Joe Frazier.
13:41This time, not the same thing.
13:44Frazier is making Quarry fight his fight.
13:47Quarry has a light and thought over the right eye.
13:50Fury Quarry, after seven years of taking punches and punishments, has now become an over-the-hill fighter at death.
13:58Praising South.
13:59Quarry, let's do some fun, baby.
14:02Here.
14:02Around.
14:03Around.
14:03Around.
14:04Jump into the beat.
14:08There's too much commusers.
14:09The beat.
14:12There's no needy.
14:14Quarry seems to be gasping for a wreck.
14:21Quarry's game is all over, I think.
14:23Yep.
14:24It's all over.
14:28Jerry Quarry, at the end of his career, has one more big fight.
14:321975 against Ken Northman.
14:34we go round one one pillar this is a must hide for folks
14:40don't have to say your quarry do great
14:43garden's in the blue
14:44what you doing with the fight
14:46quarry best of the body
14:49in the beginning of the fight
14:54we start
14:59trying with each other a little bit
15:01and Jerry if you would good luck to
15:03which he made it pretty well
15:05not a good solid letter
15:08but enough to give my attention
15:10when that went on
15:11I wanted to pick him up
15:13the other line it was funny
15:16but it's funny
15:17I didn't hit
15:23and if you make a move
15:26if you make a mistake
15:28so I get a couple of locks
15:30everyone was hurt
15:33why are you definitely doing that
15:36what?
15:37all the cans if I don't want is Jerry Quarry
15:40alright
15:44already looked like he's already down at any point
15:48I don't know how he can stay on his leg
15:50I didn't think I get rid of the pool
15:52that's the end of his career
16:09he calls it a career
16:10he's taken time off to become road manager
16:14bodyguard for three dog night
16:17even singing some songs with him
16:19but this time he calls it a night
16:21this time after 64 fights
16:23it's over
16:24he's had family problems
16:32a divorce here
16:33a little bit of
16:35dealing with cocaine there
16:38but somehow
16:39someway
16:40he misses the war of the crowd
16:42the crowds of the garden
16:44the crowds of big arenas
16:46he comes back two years later in Nevada
16:48to fight Lorenzo Zanon
16:53if the name rings a bell
16:55and it didn't ring many in those days
16:56still he fought
16:58Belly Holmes Zanon did
17:00for the heavyweight championship
17:01yes lost
17:03and yes lost to Quarry
17:04but it isn't Quarry
17:05it's a fact new semblance of Quarry
17:08with squishy sideburns
17:10all out of the 70s
17:11sort of the white man's afro
17:13Quarry's dying to pounce back in the road crowd
17:18flying here again
17:20Quarry's dying to pounce back in the road
17:25flying
17:27he won't bring him to a right and white step all over
17:30darn boy
17:33that's so much
17:34with a right and nice crowd
17:37as he drives again
17:40blue tires
17:41I'm gone
17:42and yet seven years later
17:44he comes back to two more fights
17:46wins them both
17:48but what you're looking at
17:50is almost
17:51a caricature
17:52of what Jerry Quarry the great battler once was
17:57but not Ender Carrillo
18:00because he comes back
18:01yet again
18:02nine years later
18:04don't call it a comeback
18:05he is now fighting into the 90s
18:07this man has started in the 60s
18:09and I wanted Rob
18:10improved
18:11but I'm not dead
18:12I'm still alive and run with Florida Bach
18:15didn't give him the opportunity
18:16I would do that
18:17damage
18:18damage
18:19damage
18:20damage
18:21damage
18:22and it's a bad fight
18:23and it's a bad fight
18:26he took a bad fight
18:28somehow
18:29someway
18:30somewhere
18:31he was bamboozied by friends
18:32he told them what he was doing was training to get into a movie
18:35and it was a terrible six round fight in Colorado against a local fighter who was in shape
18:42which Jerry was far fun
18:44who broke his teeth
18:46fractured his bones
18:48and sent him home
18:50damaged merchandise
18:52Jerry Quarry
18:53a once great fighter
18:55reduced to fighting six round fights in Colorado
18:59that was the end of his career
19:0167 wins
19:0333 knockouts
19:04and a shameful ending
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