While i get your general point Rich, Jimmy Young was 31. Tyson Fury is 33. Wilder is 36. Whyte is 33. Ortiz is 42. So there's plenty of senior citizens Cooney could go after, those four are all ranked inside the top 7 with two older than Norton was let alone Young.
Old, unskilled, and very few wins in the top 10 is not a good place to be. Wilder and Ortiz are old! Fury and Whyte getting there. Cooney today would be right up there. He had a very good left to the body and head which these jokers could not avoid with a reach of 80+ inches. If he was around today he'd fight around 230+. Could beat the best or lose to them. He skills in terms of boxing id better than Ortiz and Wilder. Whyte too.
Except Norton and Young weren't as big as those guys. And Cooney got horrifically knocked out in the one instance when he fought an old guy who was in that size range.
This thread is insane. Cooney wasnt consistent enough to be near the top of the division. He'd probably go like 1-4 in big fights, with the "one" coming against Whyte or a 40 year old Povetkin.
The Cooney that fought Holmes would beat most and I would make him a live body against any fighter today. Consistency is another thing.
Thanks for the responses. To average the responses out its seems he'd lose to the top 3, lose to the big tall prospects, like Hrgovich, Joyce and probably get sparked by Wilder. Parker, Whyte and Ortiz would be more competitive but and he may pick up a win there. Chisora would give him major problems. The rest are pick ems? So cooney top 10 -15 is fair?