I don't know much about Cooney and the only fights of his that I've seen are the ones against Norton and Foreman so that doesn't amount to very much! It was so refreshing to see how polite and sporting Cooney was in his post-fight interview after losing to Foreman. He was just so nice! I know he was nicknamed the Gentleman but was he always as nice as this?
Yes. He was too nice and it showed in the ring. A Vietnam Veteran in my community was an early investor in Cooney and mentioned that Cooney had all of the physical tools and potential to be a world champion, but lacked the determination and mean streak that a champion needs. Cooney also didn’t like training.
He is a nice guy. Even old Larry Holmes, who never likes to give anyone a compliment when he can save it for himself, likes and speaks well of Gerry now.
For not being mean enough his willingness to hurt was not lacking....his killer instinct seemed to be intact the way he went after fighters in the ring especially when sensing them being hurt that was obvious in the ring for all to see....
He certainly seems to me like a nice guy, and I always think people should be judged on the totality of their actions across as many contexts as possible, but I do find it very hard to find any conceivable justification for the way he continued to pummel a defenseless Ken Norton and displayed only elated triumph - unalloyed with any apparent concern - after the ref finally "stopped" the fight.
what was he supposed to do ? Norton shouldn't have been blocking shots with his face ..and need not worry ..ray mercer paid it back in full a little bit over a decade later against Morrison
Mercer-Morrison is another egregious example I sometimes mention, but to his partial credit Mercer has spoken well of Morrison and when one interviewer a few years ago started **** talking about Morrison for no obvious reason, stealing the line "He must have thought it was white boy day" from the movie True Romance, Mercer wasn't having it and even went so far as to interrupt, "Well, he was whoopin my ass for four rounds".
It seems like he was always a true sportsman. I really admire the way Cooney dealt with the fallout of his failed bid against Holmes. He'd never asked for the mantle of "White Hope" and I can only imagine what it must be like to have all of that pressure on your shoulders with such an ugly build up and then to fall short while getting kayoed. It seems like although he went through some ugly times with heavy drinking after that, and although his fight career never amounted to what it should have, he emerged with a lot of wisdom. Its a shame someone as nice as Cooney ended up with a manipulative goon like Rappaport.
we only see bits and pieces of these guys, who knows really whos nice and who's a *****. I think Gerry is a good guy though. I read he does a lot for boxers in need, does good things, never arrested for stupid sh-t, or anything for that matter.
too nice? I don't know . He didn't seem too nice when he cranked up punches on Ken Norton when Norton was already out of it.
Well his nickname was Gentleman, so outside of the ring he definitely was but once the bell rang he had killer instinct, apart from his fight with Spinks, where he trained in an alcohol fueled haze.
well that's it folks boxing has changed it's name from boxing to hands across America ... lets clean up these fights so they aren't so violent for sting like a bee ..maybe corn hole tournaments are more your thing? putt putt golf perhaps?