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Ode To Heavyweight Jerry Quarry: A Historical Look Back at His Ill-Fated Comeback
By Robert Brizel, Head RCM Boxing Correspondent
Every once and awhile, boxing experts remember the likeable Irish Jerry Quarry. He was the original ‘Great White hope’, and probably the best of the best who did not beat Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, George Chuvalo, Eddie Machen and Jimmy Ellis (WBA World Heavyweight title fight which went 15 rounds in 1968).
However, Quarry had been declining into Dementia Pugilistica for nine years when he was coaxed into a comeback in 1995. Partly, he believed he could comeback as George Foreman did. Partly, he did it because the two million dollars he earned had been squandered with any savings, perhaps due to the business people he surrounded himself with. Partly, he thought he was training for a part in a movie. Still, the Jerry Quarry of 1995 spoke with coherency and command, without evidence of damage.
When Jerry Quarry fought 3-4-1 journeyman Ron Cranmer in Aurora, Colorado, on October 30, 1992, his career, which began on May 7, 1965 against Gene Hamilton, had spanned through four decades. Quarry been out of the ring for nine years, though, and the rust, combined with damage due to accumulation of blows, had taken its toll.
Quarry appeared not in shape. Cranmer appeared in shape, and in the end, it showed. Cranmer cut Quarry around both eyes, and knocked his teeth out. Jerry lost the six round decision, but more importantly, he had been damaged this time beyond repair, with no pension or health insurance, left with only monthly Social Security disability checks and a loving brother. Quarry appeared not to know who he was when he was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in October 1995, the effects of his last bout clearly obvious.
Irish Jerry Quarry, the fighter everybody liked, died on January 3, 1999, at the age of 53. His final record was 53-9-4, with 32 knockouts. The Bellflower Belter, in his less than championship career, made his statement, and paved the way for Gerry Cooney, Mickey Ward, and other Irish boxing hopefuls who followed him. Quarry’s younger brother, Light Heavyweight Mike Quarry, died at age 55, also of Dementia Pugilistica, on June 11, 2006.
Irish Jerry Quarry never reached the new millennium. Quarry never reached the proportions Gerry Cooney did when he fought Larry Holmes in 1982, but in the least, the Great White Hope moniker made Cooney the kind of money Quarry never realized. In 1983, Quarry won two comeback bouts at cruiserweight, an interesting divisional switch, but by then, everyone had forgotten who he was. Quarry’s last three bouts were senseless. Jerry Quarry’s tombstone, like that of Tommy Morrison, is one of the loneliest tombstones in boxing history. Jerry is a strong argument for some sort of pension system in boxing in the near future, on a par with the lawsuit payouts by damaged athletes in professional football.
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