After his loss to Muhammad Ali in October of 1970, Jerry took six months off from the ring. He put a string of six consecutive wins together, before agreeing to a rematch with Ali, set for June of 1972 in Las Vegas.
This time the fight lasted seven rounds before being stopped by the referee. Quarry showed heart, but was cut again, and never really a threat to Ali. Again it was back to the drawing board for Jerry, something most boxers have to do in their careers.
1973 was a great year for him. He began the year by beating Randy Neumann in seven rounds in Madison Square Garden. In February, he beat rugged Ron Lyle via a twelve round decision, again at the Garden.
Two more wins over mediocre opponents set up a match with hard punching Earnie Shavers on December 14th of that year. Jerry surprised most when he knocked Shavers out in the first round, putting himself back into contention once again.
In June of 1974, Quarry suffered a huge setback, this time by getting stopped by Joe Frazier in the fifth round. He took the remainder of 1974 off, and on March 24th of 1975, fought Ken Norton at the Garden in New York. Norton stopped him in the fifth round, and ended Jerry’s career for the most part. He fought one last fight as a heavyweight, two and a half years later, and stopped Lorenzo Zanon in Las Vegas.
Jerry made a much advised against comeback as a cruiserweight in 1983 at age 38, and beat two fighters of little note. Shockingly, he made one last venture into the ring in 1992 at age 47 and lost a decision to a guy named Ron Cranmer.
The pathetic part is that he was suffering from what fancy medical terms call being ‘punch drunk’ by 1983, and was licensed to fight anyway. Jerry passed away on January 3, 1999 at age 53, another victim of what can often be a cruel sport.
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