Quarry Vs Shavers-Dec 14th, 1973 N.Y
This fight was an elimination fight for two of the top 5 heavyweights in the world. There was an all-star audience for the fight including Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and current champion George Foreman. Shavers was a phenomenon before this fight. It was second Madison Square Garden fight and he was coming off wins against Jimmy Young, Harold Carter and former champ Jimmy Ellis. What was so suprising was that he knocked out all of these fighters in one round. Shavers had a record of 45-2 with 44 knockouts. He had won 33 straight fights before this contest with Quarry. Jerry Quarry was a veteran warrior who was always on the fringe of getting a title shot. Quarry had just upset undefeated Ron Lyle 10 months earlier and since then had beaten James J. Woody and tough Tony Doyle. Quarry was a veteran of tough Madison Square Garden fights and came into the fight with a record of 47-6-4 with 29 KO's.

Here's the fight as I saw it.-Green are the round scores as I scored it, red is important text like a cut, great punch or knockdown.

Round 1- Shavers wades in fast to start, Quarry backing up a bit, both are throwing heavy blows. Shavers lands a nice right and Quarry holds a bit. Quarry digs to the body, then he lands a huge right to the temple, Shavers is hurt real bad, Quarry wailing away with both hands to end it. Two great left hooks from Quarry, SHAVERS IS DOWN, he gets up at the count of 8, but looks like he has no idea where he is. Quarry swarms again and Shavers is defenseless, the referee stops it. Jerry Quarry with a first round knockout!! Quarry-TKO 1

This fight was a complete shock. Shavers was on a roll with the knockouts, but it was he who was knocked out in the first this time. Quarry landed a right hand right on the temple and Shavers never regained his composure. Shavers even said after the fight that he was caught and there was nothing he could do. Quarry was near the end of his career and this was really his last big win. He would lose to Joe Frazier in 1974 and Ken Norton in 1975 and retire in 1977. Shavers would have trouble rebounding from this loss and lose to Bob Stallings the next year. He would go on to fight many rousing battles with great fighters like Ron Lyle and Larry Holmes in the years to come.