Jerry Quarry
Jerry Quarry 
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| Data | |
| Birth Name | Jerry Quarry |
| Weight class | Heavyweight |
| nationality | US-american |
| birthday | May 15, 1945 |
| place of birth | Bakersfield |
| Date of death | January 3, 1999 |
| Place of death | Templeton |
| style | Left delivery |
| size | 1.83 m |
| Combat Statistics | |
| Struggles | 66 |
| Victories | 53 |
| Knockout victories | 32 |
| Defeats | 9 |
| draw | 4th |
Jerry "The Bellflower Bomber" Quarry (born May 15, 1945 in Bakersfield , California , † January 3, 1999 in Templeton , California) was an American boxer of Irish descent. Occasionally referred to as “white hope”, he refused to use this nickname because, in his opinion, it was racist (“I'm fighting for the human race”).
He played 66 professional fights, of which he won 53, 32 of them prematurely, 4 ended in a draw and 9 lost. Most famous are his fights against Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier , which ended in defeat. He celebrated his greatest victories in non-title fights. Jerry Quarry had one of the toughest punches in the boxing scene at the time. With a temporary combat weight of around 90 kg, he would be a cruiser weight by today's standards .
Career
He started his career in 1965. After 20 fights without defeat (17-0-3), he was countered by veteran Eddie Macht in 1966 and lost the fight unanimously on points. Until that defeat, Rocky Marciano had intended to take on Quarry's contract for $ 100,000, but then dropped it. In 1967 Quarry even went down in a fight against the weak club fighter Memphis Al Jones, but was able to win in the end. In the same year he boxed against ex-champ Floyd Patterson in a draw and won the rematch. He was also able to knock Thad Spencer out. Surprisingly, he lost to ex-middleweight Jimmy Ellis in the fight for the vacant WBA World Championship. He defeated the US Amateur champion Buster Mathis Sr .
He fought another title fight in 1969 against Joe Frazier for the NYSAC world title. Quarry lost in the 7th round by a technical knockout, despite an outstanding performance, especially in the first round. Even George Chuvalo struck him out. However, the termination was controversial, as Quarry only wanted to be counted and got up too late.
From then on it seemed to be going downhill, but especially when you weren't expecting him anymore, Quarry turned up again and again. He lost twice to Muhammad Ali , 1970 and 1972, 1974 rematch against Frazier and against Ken Norton . On the other hand, he was able to beat puncher Mac Foster (24-0, all by KO) and Earnie Shavers KO and defeat the then undefeated and feared puncher Ron Lyle on points.
On the side, Quarry began taking TV roles from 1975. Without ever becoming world champion, he made a total of about $ 5 million as a boxer.
The decay
In 1983, Quarry was preparing for a comeback at the age of 37. In the same year he was diagnosed with dementia pugilistica , a type of dementia that was triggered by being hit on the head during his boxing matches. Gradually, this disease leads to Alzheimer's-like symptoms.
Despite this devastating diagnosis, Quarry started another so-called comeback in 1992 for a fee of just 1,050 US dollars. It was a bitter defeat in the 6th round for him. Throughout his life, Quarry was driven by his father's saying: " There's no quit in a Quarry ." Following this motto in life, his body now paid more and more tribute: The disease began to develop inexorably. Within the next few years he could no longer dress and eat by himself and had to be looked after by relatives. In the end it had to be connected to machines for life support measures.
Jerry Quarry died in January 1999. After his death, a foundation was set up with the aim of researching Dementia pugilistica more closely in order to enable better treatment methods. Seven years later, his brother Mike Quarry died of the same disease. Before his death, he was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1995. There's a song by Rev Hammer about the life and career of Jerry Quarry. It bears the title of the dementia disease Dementia Pugilistica .
Individual evidence
Web links
- Jerry Quarry in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Jerry Quarry in the BoxRec database
- Jerry Quarry Foundation (English)
- Article 1998 (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Quarry, Jerry |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | The Bellflower Bomber (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American boxer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 15, 1945 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bakersfield , California |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 3, 1999 |
| Place of death | Templeton , California |