That's your opinion, but give credit where it's do, Cooney did take a good pounding from Holmes for 13rds. When he returned from that long lay off is when he showed a weak chin. The sulking,loss of confidence was his biggest issue not his chin.
Let's see, if there is no Larry Holmes in 1978, then Ali loses to Spinks and the WBC awards their belt to Norton. Earnie Shavers never loses his non-title fight to Holmes, so Earnie remains a top three contender. We'd likely see Ken Norton defending against Earnie Shavers in the summer of 1978. (Norton may have considered giving Young a rematch, but I don't think he would've for his first defense.) Shavers steamrolls Norton. By the time Ali outpoints Spinks in the fall of 1978 for the WBA belt, Shavers is the WBC champ. With Norton out of the picture, it's doubtful Ali retires in 1979. Ali and Shavers may have rematched to unify the belts. I also wouldn't have been surprised if Ali defended his title against Kallie Knoetze (the WBA top contender) - the greatest black heavyweight champion ever vs the pro-Apartheid South African cop. It would've been a REALLY UGLY promotion. And there's a good chance Ali loses. Had he lost, and Knoetze became WBA champ, that would've been like Schmeling beating Louis. Who Knoetze would've defended against is anyone's guess. Instead of fighting Coetzee, maybe Leon is brought to South Africa to fight Knoetze in an effort to bring the title back home. Or maybe John Tate gets the call over Spinks. Both would've had a good chance to beat Knoetze. (Tate did.) Shavers likely wouldn't lost the WBC belt pretty quickly. Bernardo Mercado was a top WBC contender. Maybe Shavers fights him in 1979 instead of 1980. Maybe Shavers defends in a rematch with Ron Lyle or a third fight with Jimmy Young, both of whom were still ranked in the WBC top 10 in 1979. Maybe Shavers defends against Ocasio. Maybe Cooney is rushed to a title shot in the WBC in early 1980. Mike Weaver wouldn't have been a factor. Weaver was a nobody who had lost to everyone when Holmes plucked him out of nowhere in 1979 to fight. Without Holmes, Weaver never would've even been in the title picture.
Dubblechin gave a concise and logical answer of what would've happened if you just pulled Holmes out and nothing else happened and he covered all the bases really well. My question would be, however, "Who does Don King give the golden push to?" if Holmes never exists. I think one of the aforementioned fighters gets an extra boost in terms of matchmaking and financial backing from King (or Arum) and that their career would look a whole lot different. My guess is Michael Dokes gets the boost.
Pinky Thomas becomes the main guy but ultimately loses to someone in '86 because of the deal with his wife.
M.Spinks as Heavyweight, or M.Spinks as LightHeavyweight? Don't know why the hate on this site for Cooney is so strong for. But before Holmes Cooney was a far better HEAVYWEIGHT than M.Spinks. And if Cooney Fought Spinks Before Holmes, Spinks probably ends up like K.Norton or R.Lyle two natural Heavys that got blasted.
What did Cooney ever do? He had a great left hook and decent jab, but he was not great and he was given so many chances against guys who also had disadvantages like Foreman who was older and Spinks who had moved up a couple of years before their fight. And he still lost. I don't know if Spinks loses to Cooney ever. Spinks was a thinking fighter who found ways to win, and Cooney was very straight up which hurt him vs. Spinks in 1987.
And a China chinned heartless frontrunning ***** who blames others to make himsrlf look good. His fans always say how good he looked in the Holmes fight. HE WAS KOd morons. China chins do not change! CALAMITY COONEY was nothing but a gym fighter
CALAMITY Cooney and his tender abilities to fall apart when hit were PERFECTLY portrayed by Jim Carrey in "In Living Color". The most spot on portrait of a boxer ever made.
How many fighters during that time( 79-85) frame would you consider great? Very good? Outside of Tim Wirherspoon, (Who if you read what I wrote earlier would be just the type of fighter his management would've avoided ) Listen fellas I'm not here saying Cooney was a great fighter, deserving to be considered in the top 100 heavy's of all time. What I'm saying is if their was no Holmes (What was the topic of this post) during that time period if he won the championship Cooney could've easily had a 5 yr run, with good management (He had that) and no in my OPINION Spinks doesn't beat a confident and mentally ready Cooney. The aggressive Cooney before Holmes destroys Spinks .