If Gerry Cooney didn't fight Larry Holmes in 1982 and picked on older and unranked

He's thinking of Gerry Quarry lol. Oh well they're both Irish-Americans at least he got that right.

 

Absolutely agree 100%

 

I think your right -Weaver was a 50-50 fight for Cooney- Weaver was an improved fighter after giving Holmes hell- remember he was an 19-8 trial horse going into the Holmes fight but did beat Bernardo Mercado (who ko'd Berbick in 1 rd) I just think Weaver was more susceptible to the left hook than Holmes, while Larry got hit with right hands but Mike was an improved fighter after the Holmes fight and had some good wins (Tate- Coetzee)

The Weaver-Dokes 1st fight was a fluke - Dokes started quick but King had the Ref paid because they stopped it without reason .
Berbick for me was overrated - he survive handle a non-puncher like Holmes but got lucky with a Weaver damaged John Tate and a relapsed heroin addicted Pinklon Thomas - I think Mike Tyson put the value of a lot of the Holmes era fighters in perspective but I think style wise- Thomas- Coetzee- Page- Improved Weaver- Dokes- Tate all had a window to give Holmes tough fights-

If Cooney did get to Weaver with the hook before Weaver unloaded on him I still think he would have lost to one of the others and would not have not been dominant as Champ - Cooney was not prepared as well as he should have been against Holmes and Cooney had a good jab, decent movement and a killer left hook ( I rate it over Morrison's ) I think Gerry's biggest problem was confidence and durability

 

Your right Magoo, my friends owned a club in NY and I met Gerry there a few times prior to his title fight- he was a soft spoken gentle giant - he liked to drink and make a lot of trips to the bathroom- he always had a pretty girl on his arm and stayed by the bar all night - I visited him in his dressing room before the Lyle fight.

Gerry's brother Tom who I saw fight in the amateurs also had a serious cocaine problem and did a long stint in rehab- I don't want to pin that on Gerry because I did not see him snort it but heard the rumors.

A little history on Gerry, his father was a tough character and very hard on his son's - Gerry had a gentle nature on the outside but mean when he had you hurt - his father belittled him and tough love was an understatement
Jerry Quarry was another guy with father problems ( I was friends with Mike Quarry & met Jerry) and Rocky Graziano had father issues as well - sometimes it makes you tougher and sometimes it lays in the subconscious mind

 

Lot of old school east coast Irish families were tough back in the day.

 

Cooney had to fight Holmes in 82. It was the only big money fight even possible in the Heavyweight division and let's face it, the money involved at that time is astonishing.
What Gerry should have done was take a couple of confidence building tune ups and go for the WBA Title. He would have had an excellent chance against Dokes or Weaver and then the clamour for a re-match with Holmes for both the Titles would have been irresistible.
I don't know if Cooney's management could have spun it out until 85 but Holmes was already walking through fights with the likes of Lucien Rodriguez in 83.
I think it would have been realistic to speculate that Gerry gets another crack at Holmes in 84 and maybe does better. They both would been even richer that's for sure.

 

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Firstly, I'm not really a Cooney fan but the question was an interesting one. Secondly, should somebody be taking better care of you ?

 

Although Gerry Cooney was quite a puncher, but I would have preferred to see him against younger top challengers. I know it could be good for a fighter, especially for a young fighter in order to gain experience, but the fighters he defeated were at the real end of their careers. I know in a way it is kind of sheltering a young fighter, but it did not help Cooney in the ring against an accomplished as Larry Holmes in 1982, I think it hurt Gerry. It is kind of like cheating in a sense, not letting Cooney fight guys like Greg Page instead of a washed up Ken Norton, who was passed it, and needed to have relaxation in his post career in sunny San Diego, California. Fighting the senior crowd built up Cooney to the heights of an immortal superman. It is kind of like the 1956 motion picture, starring Humphey Bogart, titled, The Harder They Fall, depicting Primo Carnera's career, the character's name in the movie was Toro Moreno. Toro fought a bunch of has been's or tomato cans that were paid to lose to Moreno. After killing a top contender, who had a brain clot from battling Max Baer Sr. They put Moreno in the ring with Baer Sr, who gives Moreno a horrifying beating, even shattering his jaw. Gerry was not ready for Holmes.

 

jerry shouldn't have fought any more of the old guard. He needed to fight the younger guys after the Lyle fight or he would have been ridiculed for fighting more old men. Cooney did have some power in his right hand, but his left was so powerful, people overlook his right. He doesn't get the respect he deserves I think. Yea, he kind of went away after the Holmes fight, but he was a terror up to that point and some after even

 

Cooney still showed us a lot in the Holmes fight. And Larry was really at his best then. Sure Larry won. But over the past 14 months Holmes fought 29 rounds against better fighters during a time frame where Gerry just had one round of action. It is amazing Cooney did as well as he did.

Cooney did very well out of it financially. But his career suffered ultimately because he had become a huge financial enterprise far too soon. It really hindered what he could have become. After the money of the Holmes fight Gerry was never going to go through a proper rebuilding process that George Foreman was able to embark on for his comeback. Gerry was still far too big an attraction.

Worse, Don King had all the major contenders under contract and demanded options on Gerry to fight anybody in his stable. Problem was Cooney already had too much money. He wasn’t desperate enough to sign away that much of himself. So lesser fighters got the opportunities Gerry should have had...and they all made far less money. Even if they won belts.

For my money, Cooney was a better fighter from 1979-81 than everybody in the division beside Holmes.

 

For me Cooney is to white people what Bruno was to British people. A big guy who could blow out tomato cans who would completely fall apart when hit. But at least British people realise that where as Cooney fans want to pretend he would of beaten the other title holders. It's not like Cooney gave Holmes the contest that Norton, Williams or Witherspoon managed. Or even Snipes for that matter.

I thought after your first sentence you'd say Wilder had achieved far more. I mean Cooney was more coddled than Wilder

 

i don't buy it. Cooney was was an inflated fighter

 

Agreed