Quarry Halted by Norton in 5th Here (Published 1975) (2024)

Jerry Quarry didn't see his last fight. Squinting through bleeding eyes, unable to look at the man who was pounding him, he staggered helplessly last night as Ken Norton was awarded a fifthround knockout at Madison Square Garden.

The scheduled 12‐round bout ended at 2 minutes 29 seconds of the fifth round, and then a four‐sided screen descended slowly from the yellow and orange ceiling to show the second part of the closed‐circuit double‐header —the heavyweight title fight. from Richfield, Ohio, between Muhammad All and Chuck Wepner.

“That's it, I quit,” said the shaken Quarry, his head bowed in a dressing room. “I'm tired of being cut.”

He had promised his wife that if he lost he would retire. Once before he quit, but only for a month. That time he went on a brief tour with the rock group Three Dog Night.

Both Eyes Cut

The 29‐year‐old Quarry was almost flabby last night at 207 pounds. He suffered a one‐inch cut over his right eye in the third round and he pawed at it angrily as blood trickled down and into his eye.

Norton also damaged Quarry's left eye. A shot caused hemorrhaging in the eye and Quarry couldn't see out of it.

“After the fourth round he begged me to let him continue,” said Dr. A. Harry Kleiman of the State Athletic Commission. “But at the end I didn't think he could see. I told the referee that if it appeared Quarry had trouble looking, to stop the fight.”

And Referee Johnny LoBiarco halted it. Incredibly, many fans in the crowd of 15,397 booed LoBianco. Some even tossed newspapers at he ring in anger.

Norton, the fourth‐ranked heavyweight, weighed 218½ pounds. The knockout was his 26th as he recorded his 33d victory in 36 bouts.

Quarry had been proud of the fact that he had never lost two straight fights. He also bowed out with a reputation of losing his truly major fights. His record shows 50 victories, eight losses, four draws.

He was battered in loss No. 8. His eyes were puffed and the center of his face appeared as if it had been exposed‐to the sun for too long.

It was apparent the fight would not go the distance from the opening bell. The pair slugged each other in front of a crowd that had grown hoarse earlier in the evening from screaming through a series of bloody preliminaries.

Quarry, who earned about $175,000, lost the opening round, but clubbed Norton in the second with a heavyfisted short attack.

Norton earned his $125,000 in the third by withstanding Quarry's best punch. It was a straight right after Quarry had backed Norton into the ropes with a barreling attack. Norton covered up, then got off the ropes with a pair of lefts that shook Quarry.

The cut above Quarry's right eye, opened earlier in the round, poured blood over both fighters by the time the round ended.

Not Like Old Times

In the twilight on Seventh Avenue before the first preliminary, scalpers made their appearance with offers to buy $40 seats for $20 and to sell $40 seats for $60.

But if the scalpers recalled past big‐fight nights, the rest of the supporting characters were pale imitations.

None of the grand “players,” the red‐velvet suited hustlers with the four‐inch heels, made their appearance. Nor were their bewigged ladies around. Instead, it was a Garden crowd that would hardly have been out of place at, say, a Knick game.

Indeed, there were a few daughters with their fathers. Once, upon a time, too, young girls would show up at fights with men old enough to be their fathers.

The first bout of the night kept everyone happy—except John Davis of New York. A straight right hand to his stomach by Ron Gibbons, with only 34 seconds remaining in the six‐round bout, sent Davis down and out. Gibbons, from Huntington, L. I., had won the first five rounds.

Another Huntington fighter, Ned Edwards, had worse luck. He lasted only until one second remained in the first round, going down for the third time under Pedro Soto's relentless smashing.

In other tough bouts, Oscar Piton won a majority decision in six rounds over Tyrone Phelps and Felix Perez got the majority verdict over Marco Larios.