Had Gerry Conney beat Holmes what would he be viewed as if that was his last win.

I hate making excuses for guys.

Gerry was a can't miss champion in the making during a time when guys like John Tate and Tony Tubbs wound up being champions.

Those kinds of challengers usually wind up with a belt.

Holmes gets no credit for beating that kind of challenger.

 

Cooney, Page and Dokes were all overrated.
Media darlings, especially Cooney and Page.

 

It's a shame that Bob Arum fought so vehemently at keeping his WBA champion Mike Weaver out of the ring with Gerry Cooney. Gerry was the WBA's #1 contender in 1981 and Arum convinced the organization to have Hercules fight the #4 Ranked Quick Tillis. Had Cooney been given his chance against Weaver he might have joined the fraternity of 80's alphabet title holders. Of course the possible consequence to Gerry might have been that like so many of those fragment champions, he might not have ever gotten his lucrative pay day against Holmes.

 

I would have given Cooney a better than average chance of beating both Dokes and Page. Those guys couldn't be relied upon to show up in top form and had plenty of flat performances against far lesser fighters than Gerry Cooney.

 

I'd probably rate Dokes as slightly more reliable.

 

Cooney was never going to fight those guys pre Holmes

 

well the moon would be made of cheese too.

 

Gerry gave Holmes a good fight. That was peak Holmes and if not for the low blow deductions I believe he would of been ahead on the cards. Not saying that is how I saw it, but it was a good fight. Gerry came on in the middle rounds for awhile.
Had he won it would of diminished Holmes. Gerry would probably be vastly over rated because Power always is and that is one thing he had abundance of in his left.

 

I give Holmes a lot of credit for the victory. Besides the obvious dangers Cooney posed (unreal power in the left, whatever anyone may think of his suitability as a challenger), I believe the level of scrutiny both fighters faced, as well as hype machine they had to navigate, would have sapped the resources of even the most focused fighter. For those not around then, this was the most hyped superfight of its time, and had divisions the likes of which had only been seen in the Johnson-Jeffries fight, for unfortunate and obvious reasons. There was a palpable sense of danger about the thing, to the point of having snipers on the rooftops of the casinos nearby to combat any potential threats to the peace during the bout. The pressure was of an intensity not seen before, and credit is due both fighters for shutting out all that extraneous stuff and being able to focus to give the fans a taut, well-fought effort that had a special sense of urgency and drame about it.

I also think Cooney is derided unfairly then and now. Who cares that he never became champ or an ATG? He never owed anybody a Hall of Fame career. His career was his. Just because we as fans express an interest in the proceedings doesn't give us ownership over any of it. We seem to forget that so often, as if some mortal insult has been issued to us if a fighter doesn't turn out exactly as we expect. Very odd thing.

 

Maybe, but Page won the title, as did Dokes. Cooney didn't.

 

Indeed, no truer words have been spoken.

 

Gerry had a great hook with power and decent jab. That's it. No coordination in his right hand, limited durability, inability to go the championship distance.

Holmes was trained perfectly to handle Cooney constantly turning to his right nullifying his hook. I watched this bout live at the former Totawa ice world arena via closed circuit broadcast.

No style was going to produce a win over Holmes that night. Larry was in a different league.

 

Agree with all the above. I think the man has been berated, dissected, and down played so much over the past 35 years that he's actually more "underrated" today than "overrated." He retired only having lost to 3 ATG's and with 28 victories against opponents who ranged anywhere from mediocre to half way decent - Not to mention some pretty emphatic winning performances. I don't have a problem with his resume.

 

That's like asking," Where would you rank Galento if he had beaten Louis?" Fun to think about since Tony had his moments(err moment) but it was never a realistic scenario.

 

It all depends on context. Recently one or two in here have grossly overrated him and in cases such as these he will be dissected and critiqued.