Damn, Good matchup. An inshape Page is anyones worst day, but I think Gerry catches him and ko him. Also think Gerry would be right in the fight, maybe even winning, similar to when he fought Holmes, although I don't really think he was winning that, but he was sure in the fight. And Greg was no Larry Holmes
Page was an incredibly tough guy, but he was a bit of a front runner. When he was matched evenly in terms of size and power he wasn't usually that impressive. Cooney UD-12.
Page would knock him out. He's beaten myriads of better fighters than Cooney ever did and would be primed against such a dangerous opponent. Cooney never beat anyone on Pages level, nor Berbick's, nor x amount of other top 10 fighters of the time.
Cooneys performance against Holmes and Norton was better than anything the overrated underachiever unmotivated FAT Ali wannabe ever did
I would hardly be holding up Cooney's victory over the shell that used to be Ken Norton as anything to write home about. This was Norton's very last fight, his 50th. He'd been fighting pro for almost a decade and a half. The guy was what, 37 years old? Earnie shavers had knocked him out in under 2 minutes more than 2 years earlier. As for his performance against Holmes it was quite good but it is obvious Holmes fought a very studious, cautious fight in an effort to give Cooney the least chance possible. He was respectful of Cooney's power, particularly early and wanted to give him very very little opportunity. If it was any other opponent the fight quite likely would have been over not long after Holmes dropped him in round 2. Holmes was a good finisher but didn't want to give Cooney any chance of landing something desperate or other. Page's win over (Ring's #2 at the time behind Holmes) Gerrie Coetzee alone towers over anything on Cooney's resume. His wins over Snipes (Ring rated #5) and Tillis (Ring top 10) are also bigger wins than any of Cooney's. His win over Marty Monroe would also rate higher than any of Cooney's. In the wash up Renaldo Snipes (who lost convincingly to Page) come closer to beating Holmes than Cooney.
Fine remove the Norton fight I shouldn't even put it up. Cooneys losing effort against Holmes is better than anything Page ever did.
Page. All day, every day. These are the opponents he gets up for. Page/Dokes/and Witherspoon all wanted Gentleman Gerry way back. It would have made for nice paydays and none of them had a high regard and all of them took a much better punch than Cooney. As for this proposed fight, Page takes him to deep waters and gets rid of him with a right hand in about the 8th round. He'd be ahead on the cards w/ Cooney winning 1 or 2 rounds. If only Cooney had some head movement and some better legs, he'd matchup better. Later on, Tubbs and especially Thomas would have been bad matches. Or Coetzee during any time & probably even the Bonecrusher. To ensure wins, Cooney needs to fight non-threat guys back then. Ledoux is a good one & nice win. Leon Spinks is a highlight ko. Cobb. Snipes wanted a local NYC match but the Cooney braintrust never took that. If you're steering clear of a Renaldo Snipes, it doesn't tell you something, it screams it.
Ken Norton beat Tex Cobb six months before Cooney destroyed Norton. Cobb was coming off a Ko win over Shavers. Cobb came back after that with a majority decision loss to Dokes and a win over Bernardo Mercado. To that point, Norton looked better against Cobb than anyone but Holmes. If Norton was shot, so was Cobb and Mercado and Shavers and Dokes and half the top 10. George Chaplin fought Page twice, and over 22 total rounds, you could argue both Page and Chaplin won 11 rounds. They were totally even. And Cooney destroyed Chaplin. Ken Norton was a contender. Jimmy Young was a contender. Ron Lyle was still a contender. George Chaplin was a contender. Eddie "The Animal" Lopez was a contender. Even Phil Brown and Eddie Gregg were contenders. Cooney beat all of them. Page's big win, without question, came against Coetzee (a KO that came in a round that was 4 MINUTES long). But Page lost to everyone and their brother. Names and journeymen. And, for the record, Renaldo Snipes was garbage. Cooney only lost to Hall of Famers. And Page isn't in the Hall of Fame. Against every common opponent they had, Cooney performed better. Cooney by KO.
None of them took a punch better than Cooney. Especially not Greg Page. Page was literally wasted TWICE in separate fights by Mark Wills (a journeyman among journeymen). Wills ended his long career (losing to everyone) with only nine knockouts. TWO of those knockouts came against Greg Page.
I think you mean 83 page v. 82 Cooney as Page seemed to peak then and Cooney was MIA after June 82 Peak for peak it's a great match-up. Page moved more gracefully then Holmes and can dance out of range of Cooneys left hook. Page was vulnerable to getting hit with right hands. Coney did not have a good one, though. And Page had a good chin. Page was hyped but Cooney even moreso. Page by decision.
Page bent at the waist and leaned his head forward, with his hands at his side, ALL THE TIME. All you have to do is watch Page in 1982 against Trevor Berbick, ROUND 2, and see all the left hooks Berbick hits Page with. This content is protected If Cooney got Page in the corner and started uncorking left hooks, the fight would be over. Simple as that. Page's style was all wrong for Cooney. Page's head was always exposed. He leaned forward to make it even more hittable. His hands were always by his waist. No one who beat Cooney fought like that. On top of that, Cooney towered over Page. Cooney would've brutalized Page. EARLY.
