Bowe /Cooper

I'm no Cooper expert but outside of hurting Moorer/Holyfield, I don't see the evidence of him being 'one of the hardest punchers of the early 90's'

 

this is bowes most impresive win and still he does not not look like a great fighter. cooper had no problem reaching him or backing him up, riddick went to sleep at times, sure the finish was good (I will give him that) but cooper was stopped a lot of times. frank bruno fired burt as a sparring partner before this point. out of availible contenders during tins era i dont think cooper rates with morrison, ruddock, bruno, bonecrusher, sanders or mercer for punch power. he did bang but was a level away from the others.

 

Oliver McCall once said that Bert Cooper was the hardest puncher he ever faced. And we all know McCall has been in with everybody either in the gym or in the ring.. For what its worth I always found that interesting seeing as McCall was one of Tysons sparring partners as well. Cooper can bang his biggest issue always was desire when he wanted to fight he could really go (like against Holyfield, Mercer or Moorer) but if he didn't want to then he would just pack it in, like he did vs Foreman.. I am a big Cooper fan and I think he came to fight here he was just out gunned. Good win for Bowe..

 

If Bowe was taking clean shots like that against true power punchers like Lewis or Foreman he would last 2 rounds tops..

 

I think Bowe had so much ability to dominate people - he had all the tools and he also was a pretty venomous character - just strange that on the flip side he had these periods where he just straight out went to sleep or let people into fights when he shouldn't have? Having Futch directing him certainly pushed him in the right direction - would he have come along to any extent with Futch teaching him I don't know - it's just that I don't see Bowe as 'a natural' - to me a natural fighter (with his size and strength and jab) wouldn't have let happen what Bowe let happen in the first round there - I don't know whether it was a confidence thing with Riddick maybe - and I don't really rate Smokin Burt that highly really - he was a 3rd replacement opponent when he got the call against Holyfield - but then again he nearly caused a shock against Holy - one of the very reason's there were still so many questioning whether Holy was really a true heavyweight - Bowe did seem to start a little slowly against Holy too but when he really applied what he had we all saw the results - I think he was a great talent .

 

McCall has also said the same about Buster Douglas and Frank Bruno though.

Cooper was a hard puncher, but more so one of the hardest hitting cruiserweights than heavyweights.

He was 5'11 and weighed 208 pounds here, easy to see why the 6'5, 230 lb Riddick Bowe would be matched up against him.

 

Could u imagine this version of bowe which was oct 25 th 1990 fighting mike tyson like he did bert cooper........... Bowe gets fuked up real bad....bowe ducked botha in 94...he ducked lewis in 93.....he ducked ruddock and fought phil brown instead.......he ducked ruddock a second time and opted to fight pierre coetzer instaed................at least lennox had balls........i dont understand why bowe ducked botha and fought buster mathis jr instaed.

 

I own the master tape from 1990....... Bowe at 230 pounds parked Cooper like a Ford truck within 2 rds....... DUST! Awesome......
bbb

MR.BILL

 

his best result against a fighter that blew hot and cold. And lets face it, Bowe had every physical advantage possible going into the bout. That's always when he looks his best.

But there had been questions about Cooper before this bout. And just when did he ever win the big fight anyway? Cecil Coffee? the rest of the times, he fights just good enough to lose. And what fighter ever had problems landing their punches on Bert Cooper?

 

Find me a list that has Cooper as one of the hardest punchers of all time.
Totally laughable that would make Hide the hardest of all time.

It shows the desparation in trying to bestow greatness on Bowe by highlighting one of his great wins against someone who lost 22 times against mostly journeymen

 

Cooper was one of the harder hitting punchers of the early 90s. Not the best punches , not the hardest , but still a big puncher of the time.