The Quarryman

If you get a chance, you should check out the ESPN Classic hour-long show, “A Forgotten Heavyweight: Jerry Quarry.” Narrated by Al Bernstein, it’s a pastiche of Quarry’s three most famous fights, his 1969 title bout with Joe Frazier, and his two fights with Ali.

I had seen the Frazier bout before, a punishing affair stopped by the doctor before the start of the 8th due to a bad cut over Quarry’s eye. And of course Ali/Quarry I is famous, being Ali’s first bout back after his Vietnam exile from the ring. This fight too was stopped due to a cut over Quarry’s eye, this time before the start of the 4th.

Ali/Quarry II, fought in 1972, I had never seen, and this particular print that Classic has is fascinating. First of all, the announcers are Mel Allen and, I believe, David Frost. Hearing Allen, who for so many of us children of the 70’s is forever the voice of “This Week in Baseball,” doing a big fight is a joy. He boils over with enthusiasm, going on before the first bell about how charged the atmosphere is and that he’s as full of adrenaline as either of the fighters. Frost, meanwhile, if that is indeed Frost (anyone know about this?), is all continental cool and witty analysis. They’re quite a team, a real poor man’s Mailer and Plimpton, much like CI and myself when we call fights together at my house.

Also great about this print is that the announcers' mikes pick up a lot of noise from the ring, primarily the constant banter of Bundini Brown. Right after the opening bell, in a bizarre maneuver, Quarry actually picks Ali up off his feet and looks like he’s going to piledrive him. He definitely gets Ali’s attention with this move - his eyes go wide. And you hear Bundini yelling at him, “you just stay cool Champ, real cool, you do YOUR thing.” Later on, when Ali is opening up on Quarry, Bundini yells, “that’s right Champ, lay a Sugar Ray on him,” which Allen and Frost comment on.

The fight itself is gripping just for being such an exhibition of Ali’s skills prior to his mid-70’s decline. Quarry was a hell of a puncher (a poor man's Frazier, let's face it) and still Ali looks like he's in a glorified sparring session, breaking a sweat, working on some moves. He clowns more than I’ve ever seen him clown, toying with the bullish Quarry through the first two rounds before letting fly in the third and putting the Irishman on queer street. Quarry wobbles out for the fourth and Ali tattoos him twice and then turns and beckons to the ref to stop the fight, much as Larry Holmes would do in his bout with Ali eight years later. After the fight, Ali said of this gesture, “I ain’t out to kill nobody.” Two more clean shots and the ref takes mercy on Quarry, who was out on his feet. TKO in the fourth.

This was a bad night on the whole for the Quarry family, as Bernstein explains in the show. On the undercard, Jerry’s younger brother Mike (who died just two weeks ago) was knocked out in a light heavyweight title bout with Bob Foster (that picture on the right is M. Quarry/Foster). It was a night Ali termed “The Soul Brothers versus the Quarry Brothers,” and the Soul Brothers had an easy go of it. Meanwhile, another Quarry brother was arrested for brawling in the stands. 0 for 3. Luck of the Irish, innit.