Machen as we know, went out against Ingo but saw the distance against Liston. How's a fight between him and prime Cooney go? 12 rounds?
If machen wants to do the same thing he did with ingo which is going toe to toe with gerry he would probably get bombed out early but i think eddie would run, outboxe and outspeed him and win by decision.
I can see Eddie doing something similar to that, using his Jab and countering him .But Cooney could easily upset the cart with that left hand of his. For me, Eddie has to play the long game and hope to take Cooney to the latter rounds. Tire him out, who know s, maybe get a ko.
Another excellent match up from you Ferg. I’m among those who feel that Machen didn’t fully appreciate or respect the danger Machen presented - Eddie showed very little caution if any. And even for him, as compared to his own apparent standards otherwise, I think Eddie displayed a somewhat uncharacteristic level of aggression against Ingemar - almost as if he thought Ingo was a literal push over. Eddie’s approach to the well established monster that was Liston was vastly different. Against Cooney, I would guess we would see that level of caution and running at the least from Eddie. At best we know Gerry was no joke - I agree, for his best chance Eddie really does have to play the long game, look for Cooney to fatigue and seize whatever opportunities that might open up for him from there. But then, with his power and size, a KO/TKO for Cooney in 3 or so rounds isn’t out of the question either - that’s simply the type of fighter Cooney was.
Thank you kind sir. Yes I totally agree on that, there's no certain out come here for me. Maybe Eddie gets to show off his skilful boxing, and gets the win over the big guy.. Or we see another case of Machen getting caught early and getting kod. Knowing Cooney, he's going to try and take his head off early, that's one thIng im certain of, Pug
Eddie late TKO. Fairly easy prediction. (Unless of course he approaches him like he did Ingo.) Cooney thought fairly powerful was limited as a boxer. I don’t think he has the skill set of Sonny Liston or even Cleveland Williams to outbox or keep up with Machen.
Great one! Machen has a good chance of winning by decision, if he could last 12 with Sonny I'd favour him to outbox and last the distance against Cooney as well.
I happen to think Machen could fight and that the Ingo fight, while devastating was a fluke ... he'd be giving up a lot of size however I'd still favor him to take it ...
Also true, but Cooney is much more one dimensional than Liston was. I don’t think Cooney had good enough tools to limit Machen to bicycle riding like Liston did!
I know Cooney wasn’t especially durable but I don’t know if Machen had the sting in his punches to do much damage. We also have to consider that Gerry was more or less a retired fighter for two of his stoppage losses AND facing ATG’s. That said I’m Not sure that his durability or lack thereof really applies to this argument. While Machen was the more skilled of the two Cooney would have had a wider gap in height, weight and reach against Eddie than he did against his other conquerors. And lastly, he might have been the hardest puncher or certainly one of the top 3 that Machen ever faced ( Liston might be the only exception. ). I’m going to go out on a limb and pick Cooney
I'm going to join you. Cooney showed good patience and a powerhouse jab against the slippery Jimmy Young and i think he'd go ok here. He alternates that hook so much between head and body and he can kill you to either. Against Young he was also slipping a few right hands out there as well and even showed a little bit of boxing skill at times. He's a big unit and moved forward pretty well and i think he could catch Machen pretty early on. If Machen is going to run enough not to get caught he simply ain't winning the fight.
Good example. The Young fight was actually one of the better displays of Gerry’s boxing skills and patient meter -
I'm going with this as well. Both rack up as stories of unrealized potential, perhaps, but the version of Cooney, up to and including the Holmes bout, presents a genuine offensive threat, which I think would find Machen defending brilliantly but negated offensively. Unlike Holmes, Machen doesn't have the jab and right-hand to temper Cooney's forward assaults. Note that Holmes' second-round KD of Cooney was only the beginning of that process, with Cooney getting straight back in the saddle, upon rising, and giving Holmes pause on any thoughts about trying to finish it there and then. I find it difficult to see Machen being able to make his offense count, with any attempt at countering Cooney, particularly if he tries to do so under the jab, exposing him to Cooney's power. It is likely Machen remains elusive, intact, but ultimately ineffective.
Size is only one facet but it's certainly worth mentioning in this one on top of everything else. Cooney is 6" taller, has 6" more reach and outweighs him by about 30 pounds and Cooney's not fat like a lot of recent heavyweights. These advantages make his good hard jab even more effective and he's going to be getting the better of his share of the outside exchanges.....and Machen doesn't really want to be trying to crowd him with those brutal left uppercuts. I quite like Cooney here and i'm not that big on him. I think the styles mesh nicely for him.