green young mike tyson 85(9-0) vs a peak gerry cooney 82!!

Tyson gets rocked, maybe even knocked down. Still too tough and is not getting KOed.
Gerry can't handle Mike's power. Mike KO3. Mike wins but has knots, lumps, and another KO.

 

Cooney at his best vrs. an '85 Tyson is interesting. Tyson is going to get hit like he's never been hit and it would be interesting to see how he reacts. Of course Cooney's going to get hit also by Tyson's quick delivery. Tyson was already very good in '85 but peak Cooney was a
very hard hitter. Cooney must stay mentally focused. It sort of depends on where Cooney's mind is at. Interesting match...

 

The gulf in hand speed is huge. A green Tyson is still a version that much closer to what D'Amato taught him. Cus was still alive when Mike had his tenth professional bout, and may well have had input into dealing with Cooney.

Just no way Gerry avoids getting hit, and this is a situation where Tyson's much the stronger man physically. If Mike floors him as quickly as Holmes did, he'd be finished then and there, whether he got up or not. Cooney had no survival skills when hurt, and Tyson wasn't a shoddy finisher. Donnie Long was a reputable opponent for Mike to post his ninth win against.

 

There's a reason a fight like this don't happen. In 85, Tyson wouldn't have even faced Green, Tillis, or Ferguson yet. Challenges that helpd move him on his way. He probably had only fought a total of 9 rounds at this point total minutes, maybe less.

Cooney was not an all time great, but at his peak going into the Holmes fight, he was a quick starter and very dangerous seasoned top contender with a strong heart. It doesn't matter how well trained and how much raw talent Tyson had at this point, you need some experience, and he was only in his first months as a pro 9 fights in with no legit competition. He was a kid barely out of his head gear. As remarkable of a young talent Tyson was..just NO!

I would not take this fight, Mike was not ready, he would get bullied and Nortoned in the first round. Cus would be arrested for murder and rightfully criticized for throwing away a promising talent. Cooney would wake up in the night, tears in his eyes, unable to forget about the time he killed a 19 year old kid in the ring. Would he have been a Champion one day? Who knows.

Seriously what the hell? Can you imagine poor Mike's mind set going into this fight. "Ok, kid I think its time we put you in with some real competition..how does the #2 Heavyweight in the World sound...the guy that just left Norton a drooling mess in the corner. He's no Donnie Long, he's going to hit you back, but don't worry, just bob and weave like I told ya. You'll do fine."

 

What about when Tyson gets hit? If Cooney gets in some of his power shots, Tyson is in for a fight. This is no Berbick or Spinks fight. Tyson would be fighting someone who could punch. The Cooney we are talking about is the version before he got himself messed up.

 

If Mike got to Cooney first it might be over in a hurry 9 pro fights or not.. But this young Mike has a very fragile mental state (Hell Mike did alot of times) so if Cooney got on him and hurt him it may be curtains for Iron Mike.. Although Mike is a tough street dude, he was knocking out grown men when he was 13.....

I am still going to cast my vote for Mike..

 

Interesting aside to this discussion Cooney wanted his trainer to be Cus D'Amato when he turned pro but it was overruled by the Wacko Twins because Cus also wanted to be the manager and that would have cut them out if the picture.

It was D'Amato who then recommended Victor Valle for Cooney which was an obscure choice at the time but Cus was a weird guy. Always thought Cooney would have been better off with someone else.

 

I make Tyson a minor underdog vs Cooney, Tyson even at 9-0 was still leveling people, so I would not be shock if Tyson ended it fast, but as said before, Cooney was at one point consider the 2nd best heavyweight in the world, and that is a big gap from 9-0 to the 2nd ranked contender of the world.

Prime for prime its not contest, and even at 9-0 when I think Tyson could pull it out.

 

Maybe Cus was a bit sore and basically thought if i cant have him, screw it?

 

If may be the key word here. Would the statuesque Cooney, with his lack of hand speed and need to set himself, even get that chance before Mike unloaded?

Gerry wasn't able to crush the slow starting Michael Spinks the way Tyson did in Michael's very next bout, and Cooney's power to the body seemed to just pretty much bounce off Jimmy Young's torso. This may be significant, because Mike had good elusiveness from head shots, and good natural physical punch resistance.

What version of Gerry are we discussing exactly? He'd been off for over a year after 54 seconds against faded comebacking retread Norton [his only match in 1981] when he challenged Holmes. Are we talking about the active 1979 edition who ended the year by stopping Denis in three and Leroy Boone in six? I think Cooney was actually pretty unimpressive against Young except for a few improved right hands prior to inflicting the fight saving cut. [Yes, if Jimmy had finished that one with an unmarked face, I believe he would have won.] Lyle had been crushed by Lynn Ball in two less than a year before Cooney got him in one. Ron was less than four months short of 40 when Gerry got him.

Just how good was Cooney against resistant opposition? I've always believed Holmes carried him past the second round knockdown to set up an easy big payday rematch. Larry said the following morning that it was NOT one of his more difficult bouts, when asked if it was a tough fight.

This was an early morning interview where Cooney was sitting on the other side of the questioner, and I don't know that Holmes was fully awake and realized what he was saying. [This may have been on Good Morning America, with Cosell conducting the interview.] Larry wasn't talking in a tone of denigration or flattery, but in a matter-of-fact monotone. It couldn't have been good for Gerry's psyche to hear that the way Holmes said it, and it's not the kind of thing the much more media savvy Ali would have likely said about a prospective rematch opponent he'd just defeated. [Lewiston and JQ II were obvious cases where no rematch was viable, so there was no point in Muhammad building up a return. Even though Ali and Jerry had both seen Bob Foster nearly decapitate Mike Quarry, and Muhammad knew what effect that had to have on Jerry, he still seemed surprised at how quickly Jerry gassed afterwards.]

Again, please keep in mind that Holmes produced the fastest knockdown against Cooney of any opponent during his reign aside from Marvis. Both Gerry and Mike were fast starters, but Tyson had much faster hands, and routinely took guys out in less than a minute throughout his career span. Looking at footage of their signature first round wins, I think Mike would pull the trigger first, and be more likely to withstand the fire if Gerry somehow managed to do it initially. End of story.