‘Irish’ Jerry Quarry was born on May 15, 1945 in Bakersfield, California. He won he National Golden Gloves championship at age 19, and had over 200 fights in his amateur career.
After turning professional in May of 1965, he fought fourteen times that same year. He suffered his first loss to Eddie Machen in July of 1966 in his 21st bout. In 1967, The WBA held a tournament to replace Muhammad Ali, who had been stripped of his belt. Jerry was included in the tournament, and reached the finals before losing to Jimmy Ellis via decision. His impressive performances made him a viable top contender.
Quarry took six months off after the tournament, and starting a winning streak that included a dominating win over Buster Mathis. That victory set up a second title shot for Jerry, against Joe Frazier in New York City.
The June 23, 1969 fight at Madison Square Garden against Frazier didn’t fare well however, and he was stopped in the seventh round. He also lost to George Chuvalo in December of that same year by a seventh round TKO.
In 1970, Jerry rebounded, and defeated Mac Foster, the #1 ranked contender with a 24-0 record. Quarry won impressively, setting up the bout with exiled ex- champion Muhammad Ali, who was coming out of retirement. No other top ten contender agreed to fight Ali, but Jerry did.
The two met on October 26, 1970 in Atlanta, Georgia, the only state that would give Ali a boxing license. The fight itself was stopped after three rounds because of a bad cut over Quarry’s left eye, but he didn’t disgrace himself at all. With his track record of rebounding, it wouldn’t be long before the latest ‘Great White Hope’ would be back in the ring.
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