Hard Luck: The Triumph And Tragedy Of “Irish” Jerry Quarry
AUTHORS – Steve Springer and Blake Chavez
FOREWORD by George Foreman

I have always been a big fan of Jerry Quarry. He was a mainstay in the talent laden heavyweight division during the late 1960s and into the 70’s. His multitude of fans shared in his triumphs and his disappointments throughout his roller coaster career. Whenever you counted Jerry out he would win a major fight to propel himself back to the heavyweight forefront. His victories over Floyd Patterson, Thad Spencer, Buster Mathis Sr. Mac Foster, Ron Lyle and Earnie Shavers always kept him in the thick of the heavyweight title picture. Then there were the losses to Ali and Frazier who both defeated Jerry twice. There were the losses to Jimmy Ellis, George Chuvalo and later in his career to Kenny Norton.

Much has been documented on Jerry’s career and his battle later in life with Dementia Pugilistica. A battle that would take his life in 1999. The authors of this book do a tremendous job of detailing Jerry’s life and career from the beginning to the bitter end. It brought back a lot of memories both good and bad but it also reminded me of why I was such a fan of Quarry and that era of heavyweight boxing.

This is more than a book on Jerry Quarry. It was like reading and reliving that historic time frame in fistic history. Other then Muhammad Ali himself, no one stirred the pot of controversy better then Quarry during that time frame. Along with his great boxing ability Jerry had something else. Loads of charisma that most of today’s heavyweights lack.

I highly recommend this book to all boxing fans. It is a great read. If you are a Jerry Quarry fan…Well what are you waiting for ???