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“Irish” Jerry Quarry “The Bellflower Bomber” was born on May 15th 1945 and died on January 3rd 1999.
During the peak of his career he fought against world champions, Floyd Patterson, Jimmy Ellis, Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali and Ken Norton.
After Muhammad Ali was stripped from his World Titles and boxing license because of his refusal to be drafted into the US Army, the World Boxing Association (WBA) held a tournament to see who will replace him as Champion. The tournament didn’t include Joe Frazier because he accepted a title belt outside the WBA. Jerry Quarry was included, his first fight was against former world champion Floyd Patterson on October 28th 1967 and won on a majority decision. His second fight was on February 3rd 1968 against Thad Spencer and stopped him out in the 12th round. Then Quarry fought Jimmy Ellis on April 7th 1968 for the WBA World Heavyweight Championship, losing on a 15-round majority decision.
June 23rd 1969, Quarry fought Joe Frazier for the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) World Heavyweight Championship. The fight was stopped after the 7th round with Quarry having a badly cut eye. Quarry had two good wins over Johnny Carroll and Brian London. He lost to George Chuvalo by a 7th round knockout. Quarry had good TKO win in the 6th round against the awesome puncher and unbeaten at that time, Mac Foster.
October 26th 1970, Quarry fought Muhammad Ali on his return to the ring after nearly four-year ban. Quarry’s left eye was severely cut in the 3rd round, which caused the fight to be stopped before the start of the 4th. He fought Muhammad again on June 27th 1972 losing by a TKO in round 7.
Quarry won on points against Ron Lyle and knocked out Earnie Shavers in the 1st round before suffering a TKO in the 5th round in a re match with Joe Frazier. He got beat by Ken Norton then had three straight wins before losing in his final fight against Ron Cranmer. Jerry Quarry fought the best in what is known as the Golden Era.
