Jerry Quarry never won the world heavyweight boxing championship. He might have done it in another day and age, but he was in his prime in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the heavyweight division was perhaps at its peak.

So Quarry had to battle it out with the likes of Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, as well as Earnie Shavers and Ron Lyle. Of his 66 professional bouts, eight of them were against men who at one time or another reigned as world champion.

Quarry had two world title shots in 1968 and 1969 – early in his career – and came up short. He spent a large part of the next decade trying to land another, but never quite did. Despite that, Quarry was one of the more popular fighters of his era. He became a millionaire and even landed television acting roles.