Muhammad Ali vs. Jerry Quarry

Boxing competition

Date

October 26, 1970 & June 27, 1972

Venue

Atlanta Municipal Auditorium and Las Vegas Convention Center

Title(s) on the line

NABF heavyweight title (1972)

Tale of the tape

Boxer	Muhammad Ali	Jerry Quarry
Nickname	The Greatest	Irish
Hometown	Louisville, Kentucky	Bakersfield, California, US
Pre-fight record	29–0	37–4–4
Height	6 ft 3 in (191 cm)	6 ft (183 cm)
Weight	213 lb (97 kg)	198 lb (90 kg)
Style	Orthodox	Orthodox
Recognition	Former world heavyweight champion	Ranked #3 Heavyweight (1970)

Result

Ali won both fights via TKO

Muhammad Ali and Jerry Quarry fought two boxing matches with each other. The first bout took place on October 26, 1970, and the second on June 27, 1972. Ali won both fights through technical knockouts. The first match was Ali's first fight since his suspension from boxing in 1967, and the second was fought for the NABF title.

Background

Muhammad Ali was stripped of his heavyweight titles in 1967 when he faced charges for refusing to be drafted into the Vietnam War. For nearly four years, Ali was banned from the sport, missing out on what could have been the prime of his career, until Georgia granted Ali a boxing license in 1970. Meanwhile, Jerry Quarry had risen through the ranks in the late 1960s, but lost title fights against Joe Frazier and Jimmy Ellis.

Fights

The first fight was fought in Atlanta. Both fighters were hoping that the victory would be a launchpad to a championship match with Frazier. Ali had accumulated a bit of rust and lost a bit of speed from the years off, but was sharp throughout the match, using his jab to keep Quarry off balance and landing power shots consistently. Quarry grew bolder as the fight went on, and managed to land several shots on the former champion, but suffered a cut over the left eye in the third round, and began to bleed profusely. The fight was stopped by the fight doctor following the end of the third round.

The two fighters rematched less than two years later. The fight would be for the NABF heavyweight title, which Ali now held. Quarry did better this time, lasting much longer, but once again struggled to close the distance with, and hurt Ali, who once again dominated most of the fight from the outside. Quarry was hurt going into the seventh round, and after landing several unanswered shots, Ali signaled to the referee to stop the fight, which he did shortly afterwards.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

References

^ "Muhammad Ali's ring record". ESPN. 19 November 2003. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
^ Thomas Hauser (1991). Muhammad Ali:His Life and Times. Simon & Schuster. pp. 210–12.
^ Felix Dennis; Don Atyeo (2003). Muhammad Ali: The Glory Years. miramax books. pp. 166–70, 192.
^ Joe Ryan (2003). Heavyweight Boxing in the 1970s:The Great Fighters and Rivalries. McFarland & Company. pp. 50–3.
^ "The night when Muhammad Ali and Atlanta shined". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 24 October 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
^ "The night Muhammad Ali's legend was reborn – and the party that followed". The Guardian. 26 October 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
^ "Obituary: Jerry Quarry". The Independent. 4 January 1999. Retrieved 6 October 2016.

Muhammad Ali

Fights

Media

Docu films and series	Whicker's World (1967 episode) a.k.a. Cassius Clay (1970) Facing Ali (2009) When Ali Came to Ireland (2012) The Trials of Muhammad Ali (2013) I Am Ali (2014) Icons: The Greatest Person of the 20th Century (2019 episode) What's My Name: Muhammad Ali (2019) Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali (2021) Muhammad Ali (2021 series)