Gerry Cooney - the hardest puncher ever?

[MRBILL]

Originally Posted by TheGreatA

Lynn "The Bullet" Ball had gotten to Lyle before Cooney did. "The Bullet" wasn't a good fighter at all, in fact he was rather terrible. Lyle had just declined a lot by then, most forget that he was pushing 40 years of age.

I saw Lynn Ball suck ass against Dokes on the undercard of "Benitez-Duran" back in 1982................. Ball got smoked............

MR.BILL

[Titan1]

Originally Posted by MRBILL

I saw Lynn Ball suck ass against Dokes on the undercard of "Benitez-Duran" back in 1982................. Ball got smoked............

MR.BILL

I have that fight on tape.Dokes put him down three times, and the first one they didn't count.The last knockdown seemed like it was fixed.

[Pusnuts]

Probably top-10 for heavyweights, totally one-handed though which was a pity given his reach, no proper jab

[TheGreatA]

Foreman got more shook up here than against Cooney:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiVVtQa3jfs[/ame]

7 minutes

[clinikill]

Originally Posted by KenNorton804

Norton, Lyle, and John Dino Dennis were all knocked out by Foreman before Cooney stopped them. I think people overrate Gerry Cooney a little too much sometimes.

Foreman was definitely a better overall puncher than Cooney, but I truly believe that Gerry's one-punch power was better than George's.

Shavers, though, is probably #1.

[redrooster]

Originally Posted by clinikill

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Cooney knocked out Lyle with a body shot that didn't appear to be loaded at all. Cooney definitely had one of the hardest punches in boxing history.

Ron was just a shell but outside of Holmes who could deal with Gerry? Maybe Berbick but I dont believe the likes of Page could.

[PetethePrince]

Originally Posted by TheGreatA

Foreman got more shook up here than against Cooney:

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7 minutes

Maybe, I'm not sure. Definitely caught him by surprise and knocked his equal-Librium off a little. Seem to compose himself well and knock the other guy out about 30 seconds later.

[JohnThomas1]

Originally Posted by redrooster

Ron was just a shell but outside of Holmes who could deal with Gerry? Maybe Berbick but I dont believe the likes of Page could.

Yeah, Cooney left a truckload of top 10 contenders in his wake

[JohnThomas1]

Originally Posted by clinikill

Here's an excerpt from a Sports Illustrated article on Cooney from 1987:

"Later in his career, when sparring partner Harold Rice showed him up at an exhibition at Gilley's bar in Pasadena, Texas, Cooney offered Rice $1,500 from his pocket to entice him back into his training camp, where he annihilated him, breaking two ribs with one left hook, an eardrum with another and Rice's nose with a right cross, and leaving him paralyzed below the waist for several days"

Call me a sceptic but i have trouble fully believing a story like this.

[JohnThomas1]

I don't really think Foreman was hurt much at all there. He skipped straight back forward and blocked a left hand with complete awareness. I'm also thinking old mates foot slipping out from under him leading to the count out may have been staged.

[TheGreatA]

Originally Posted by JohnThomas1

I don't really think Foreman was hurt much at all there. He skipped straight back forward and blocked a left hand with complete awareness. I'm also thinking old mates foot slipping out from under him leading to the count out may have been staged.

No he wasn't, but he wasn't terribly hurt against Cooney either. Both times he lost his balance, then quickly started plodding forward again. Obviously Cooney is a harder hitter than a clubfighter like Lakusta, but Lakusta nailed him with a punch that seemed bigger than the left hook Cooney landed on Foreman. There was another comeback fight of Foreman's where he got hit and lost his balance but I can't find the video at the moment.

[Titan1]

Page, Witherspoon, possibly Dokes, and a pre-Weaver Tate all have a chance to beat Cooney, not to mention Coetzee.

[zadfrak]

You could throw in some others just under that level but on the radar screen....Snipes. Pinky Thomas. Tubbs & Tillis maybe. Cobb. Weaver was champion.

Gee, that would have been top 10 competition though. Not old old names on the way out of the sport. We still probably had a better chance of seeing a fight with another sliding down the ladder at the end of the career type guy Ledoux or maybe Mercado or moved up in weight Mustapha Muhammad though.

[MRBILL]

Originally Posted by TheGreatA

Foreman got more shook up here than against Cooney:

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7 minutes

People seem to forgot or discount the fact that Foreman was also rocked much like Louis was rocked in 1946 by Tami Mauriello when in 1988, against Carlos Hernandez, who came out in round 1 and nailed Foreman with an overhand right to Foreman's forehead...... Foreman rocked back into the ropes for a brief moment.......... Foreman went on to get the 5th round TKO or something....... I got the fight on tape, but its been yrs......

MR.BILL

[clinikill]

An excellent example of Cooney's power is his KO of Leroy Boone. Boone went the distance with such fighters as Earnie Shavers and Renaldo Snipes, but was stopped by a Cooney left hook to the midsection.