FUNDAMENTALS By Tom Gray
LOST FIGHT Sugar Ray Leonard UD 10 Randy Shields » October 6, 1978, Civic Center, Baltimore
His bout against Leonard was also competitive. Reports suggest that while the future all-time great buzzed Shields on more than one occasion, he saved his best punch for referee Tom Kelly, who had to be replaced by official judge Harry Cecchini after absorbing a Sugar Ray left hook in Round 9. This bout was sandwiched between Leonard’s TKO 10 victory over Floyd Mayweather Sr. and a decision win over Bernardo Prada, both of which were broadcast on network TV. Why Leonard-Shields wasn’t preserved remains a mystery, but Sugar Ray himself told me that the bout was definitely televised. MUST READ Serenity: A Boxing Memoir » By Ralph Wiley (University of Nebraska Books, 1989) Part memoir, part 1980s boxing chronicle, you’ll struggle to put down this brilliantly written book by late Sports Illustrated journalist Ralph Wiley. Juxtaposed alongside conversations with his uncle, who boxed professionally, are insightful interviews with the likes of Roberto Duran, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, Bobby Chacon, Larry Holmes and many more greats who were at the peak of their powers. Upon explaining his ringside vantage point at the undisputed welterweight title fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns on September 16, 1981, Wiley sets the scene. “The bell rang and – oh,
FORGOTTEN CLASSIC: Ken Norton TKO 5 Jerry Quarry » March 24, 1975, Madison Square Garden O n the same night that Muhammad Ali against Chuck Wepner in Richfield, Ohio, a far-superior glamour division shootout took place more than 400 miles east in New York. The scheduled 12-round title eliminator between Ken Norton and Jerry Quarry was a crossroads bout that would open a closed-circuit Don King broadcast before switching over to the Ali-Wepner card as part of a special heavyweight doubleheader. Two years earlier, Norton, a former Marine, had broken Ali’s jaw while outpointing him, but the Adonis-like Californian was on a rebuild after successfully defended his heavyweight championship
losing the rematch and succumbing to a pulverizing second-round stoppage by then-champion George Foreman. Norton now harbored hopes of securing a rubber match with “The Greatest” for the championship. Quarry had also posted mixed results in recent bouts. Since his second loss to Ali in 1972, he’d impressively outclassed an unbeaten Ron Lyle over 12 rounds the following year before catching Earnie Shavers cold for a stunning first-round TKO victory. However, “The Bellflower Bomber” took an awesome pounding at the hands of ex-champ Smokin’ Joe Frazier in their second encounter and was considered by many to be damaged goods. Norton’s jab carried the day in the opener as Quarry was made to miss with whizzing left hooks. In Round 2, the crowd at MSG was at fever pitch as both fighters duked it out ferociously at midrange. Quarry targeted the body with left hooks, which set up a short right hand, while Norton responded with head-splitting right uppercuts. The third stanza was pure hell.
Quarry suffered a gash over his right eye and was nailed by a series of power-packed combinations at center ring. Sensing urgency, Quarry spun his man and put together a desperate two-fisted assault that lasted for over a minute. Norton was caught to the head and body while trapped against the ropes, but he also raked Quarry with accurate counterpunches. With his opponent wounded and winded, Norton went to work in earnest. In the fourth, a pulverizing body attack opened Quarry for more jolting hooks and uppercuts that snapped his head back alarmingly. The bout could easily have been stopped at this point, but Quarry, a warrior to his core, produced enough offense to stay in the hunt. Tired, bleeding, badly hurt and with his vision impaired, Quarry should have been pulled out of the fight by veteran trainer Gil Clancy at the end of that round. However, the battered fighter dutifully marched out for the fifth and absorbed a merciless pounding. A fusillade of head shots nailed Quarry until referee Johnny LoBianco stopped the fight at 2:29.
Luckily for fight fans, most of Sugar Ray Leonard’s illustrious 40-bout career is accessible either on YouTube or via fight film collectors. However, one showdown that no one seems capable of locating is the legendary former champ’s tussle with old amateur rival Randy Shields. On May 12, 1973, Shields scored a three-round decision over Leonard at an AAU tournament in Boston. For context, Leonard lost only five times in his entire 150-bout amateur career. While far from being a household name, Shields is remembered by veteran insiders as a highly touted amateur who developed into a well-rounded pro. In the late 1970s, the North Hollywood native often appeared in The Ring’s welterweight ratings and also earned himself two WBA title shots. In 1979, Shields would be deemed very unlucky to lose a 15-round decision to Pipino Cuevas, and he lasted into the 12th round against Cuevas’ conqueror Thomas Hearns the following year.
what feints! What speed! Between the first and second rounds, I noticed the studious eye of Ali. He had the same look on his face a law professor might wear while sitting in the back of a mock court as his proteges argued cases brilliantly. Ali was satisfied.” Wiley provides a fascinating glimpse into his own life and his relationship with boxing.
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