When Ali Refused To Hit His Opponent JJ

I think that I could have really went out and taken him out in the next round. Hey, he didn’t have anything. He can’t punch. Ask me to say that he’s the greatest fighter around. Forget it. >> It was June 27th, [music] 1972 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Muhammad Ali and Jerry Quarry were meeting for the second time.

[music] This time for the NABF Heavyweight title. Their first meeting had ended in Atlanta two years earlier and it was Ali’s first fight back after being stripped of his title and barred from boxing for three and a half years. >> [music] >> Quarry was ranked among the best heavyweights alive. Through two rounds, Ali controlled the pace with his jab.

In the third, a right hand opened a deep cut over Quarry’s left eye. His own corner [music] men could see it was too severe to continue. Referee Tony Perez stopped it before the fourth round could start. Quarry never got the [music] chance to answer with his hands. >> Officially and once AGAIN THAT’S THE RIGHT COMBINATION BY CLAY.

QUARRY IS FIGHTING BACK BUT THE CUT HAS BEEN OPENED. YOU SEE THE TIMER. 15 SECONDS. >> [cheering] >> AND there’s the bell to end round three. >> [cheering] >> Jerry Quarry going back to the corner. Calling for the doctor. Quarry is UPSET ABOUT IT. >> [cheering] >> THAT’S A FINE LEFT HOOK IN THERE. >> QUARRY spent two years arguing he deserved another shot, and Ali gave it to him.

[music] The card was billed “Double Jeopardy”. Ali called himself and light heavyweight champion Bob Foster the Soul Brothers. Foster was fighting Quarry’s own brother Mike on the undercard the same night. Bookmakers had Ali a five-to-one favorite. Two years after a cut ended the conversation early, both men were finally going to find out what a full fight looked like.

Quarry came [music] out pressing, working to close the ground Ali had kept between them in Atlanta. Ali answered the way he always did. He used the whole ring and made Quarry [music] work for every punch he threw. >> Ali left jab a lot. He’s almost daring him, daring Quarry to come at him. >> He’s daring to come to come at him, but he’s got a beautiful defense, this man Muhammad Ali.

When when those hands are up there like that, it’s so difficult to fight him. Look at that. Beautiful left right left by Muhammad Ali. >> Come on in, he said. Come on in. >> And he did hit Quarry with a beautiful right hand again. But Quarry is in there. He’s in there to win and hit him with a good >> You know, that was kind of a movement that he does that sometimes >> He’s been beaten.

>> That’s why >> Hit him again. >> YOU’RE THE BOSS WITH THE HATS ON. >> That was that left jab That left and a right by Quarry. >> [cheering] >> Good jab. >> Ali kept working behind the jab, the same [music] tool that opened the cut in 1970. Except this time, there was nothing wrong with Quarry’s eye to exploit. He had to be beaten clean.

> punches Ali and then dances away. >> Yes, Jerry Quarry seems to be able to see He seems now to be pushing his punches rather than throwing, rather than snapping them. Crowd roared. Crowd roared on that left hook that Jerry threw, but it didn’t hit. It didn’t land. He’s having trouble getting HIS >> COME ON, JERRY. BRING HIM HOME.

BRING HIM HOME, JERRY. >> SOME OF THE SNAP HAS ALREADY gone out of his punches, I think. >> Boy, look at him throw that >> He’s completely befuddled. >> Quarry got a left in that time. He takes three or four in return. >> Knock him out, Jerry. Put the key in the door. >> MANDEL BROWN PUT THE KEY IN THE DOOR. >> THAT WAS a beautiful left uppercut by Muhammad Ali. There’s another left hook.

Jerry’s right hook is not landing. >> He owns Cleveland, OHIO. >> A RIGHT, AND Jerry misses with a right. >> Right now. He owns the >> Oh, what a left hook that was by Muhammad Ali, and then a right to the jaw. >> He’s on Queer Street. RIGHT NOW. >> ALI SEES SOMETHING NOW. I believe Quarry’s weakening a little bit.

He’s got him up against the >> He’s in trouble right now. >> He’s throwing everything he’s got in his arsenal. And that’s the end >> Quarry kept coming, throwing when he had room to throw, but by the sixth round, it showed. His legs had slowed, and his punches were landing [music] without much behind them. >> There’s another left jab, and another left jab.

>> Ali’s getting that left in >> This is YOUR SHOW, ALI. >> AT HIS WILL, ALMOST. >> YES. Jerry’s got to get one big punch in somehow, or uh or there’s going to be absolutely nothing for Jerry. There’s another left jab. At will, that left jab is coming in beautifully, beautifully, Jerry. >> Come on, Jerry. >> Left and right by Quarry.

Didn’t hurt at all, Ali. >> Come on, Jerry. >> Close to Muhammad Ali. Ali’s not dancing away from him and he’s uh uh flat-footed now. >> Yes, Muhammad has changed his tactics. He’s ready now for the kill. >> Right, he’s up against the ropes. He only has here. Ducks a right by Quarry. Muhammad has Quarry against the ropes.

long long time. He’s in the best shape he’s been in in a long long time. >> Yes, and he’s got an opponent in there who wanted so desperately to beat him and trained and uh talking to Terry and talked to all of his trainers. This was the biggest thing in his life. What has he got? He’s got complete frustration at the moment.

>> Ali throwing that uh left jab, the left hook and and uh countering with the right. Seems to be in complete charge. And then look at that left hook. And that’s the end of the As he said, what he wanted to do is to give Quarry a good whipping. He’s got him now. And his head down, he’s straightening it up.

Quarry on Got him up against the ropes, doesn’t move and hitting him with everything. Quarry is trying to come back. Ali dances away, he’s not hurt. >> That’s the thing that Jerry has got to be he’s got to be careful of. Muhammad Ali can’t leave himself open for that kind of thing, Jerry like that. >> Quarry came out for the seventh, still trying.

He didn’t get much time to prove it. >> Ali now >> [cheering] >> The referee has stopped the fight. Jerry wasn’t able to continue. >> The referee has stopped the fight. >> In their first fight, the outcome had been decided by an accident. A cut, >> [music] >> a doctor’s judgement, a referee’s call. This time, Ali decided it himself. >> In no way I I got beat last night because I got a nasty cut.

I’ve never had a break in this from the beginning of this to the end of this game. I’ve never gotten a break in the ring and I sure as hell didn’t get one last night.