Gerry Cooney

Sure I do, He had knocked out Ken Norton which gave him a stature enough to fight Holmes.

 

If he'd challenge d Weaver instead of Holmes he'd have had a better shot at winning imo

 

I think he would have won that one.

I had a lot of disdain for Gerry after the Holmes fight (which actually made him look better than he ever would after). But I have coincidentally become more and more sure that just at that moment in time when Larry fought him he was the second best heavyweight in the world. And I don't care how slim the field was at the time. Imo it was a big win for Larry mostly because yet again he proved a top contender to be just that..a contender. There was only one real champ, he knocked the "other" champ silly.

All that said, Gerry became an embarrassment. I wasn't even surprised when both Spinks and Foreman kicked the crap out of him, the Holmes fight was his 15 minutes of fame, and he comported himself well against the 3rd greatest heavy champ of all time. He should be happy with even just that.

 

As a kid I was a huge Cooney fan. I told everyone on the schoolyard the day of May 11 that Gerry would knock out Norton in the first round. A kid said to me, "Cooney will probably win, but he's not going to knock out Norton in the first round." Ha.

I'm not sure I really ever thought Cooney would beat Holmes, but I told people he would.

Then he pulled a Foreman and, after suffering a loss in which he should have been very proud of his performance, took too much time off before getting back into the ring. I was thrilled to see him come back against Phil Brown (admittedly a set up as he was a former Cooney sparring partner), and especially George Chaplin. Then he disappeared again.

By this time I was having doubts about him. I was shocked to see him blow out Eddie Gregg so quickly, after Gregg had knocked down and beaten Randy Cobb. This fight put me back on the Cooney bandwagon.

But then there was another year of inactivity prior to meeting Michael Spinks. But I just KNEW he'd blow out Spinks. Spinks seemed ripe for the picking; I was just off by a year (and a much better opponent). I've told this story here before, but I'll repeat it. I was out at sea in the Navy when Spinks - Cooney happened. Someone started a rumor on the ship that Cooney had indeed blown out Spinks in two rounds, severely breaking his jaw in the process. I KNEW it, just like Cooney-Norton! I spent several hours feeling sorry for Spinks and tremendously happy for Gerry. Then I found out the real result. Oh...

It's often been repeated that boxing is 75% (or pick a high percentage) mental. Gerry Cooney, while apparently a very good guy, a gentleman, blessed with physical gifts (albeit it packed in a body overly susceptible to injury (or was it the cocaine?)), just didn't have the mental makeup to be a top level competitor. I find interesting Cooney's recent statement that he tried cocaine for the first time at the afterparty of the Norton fight. Cocaine and his mental makeup and past abuse did not make for a good combination. He was going along pretty smoothly until that moment. Then came all the postponements, injuries, cancellations, and inactivity. After Norton he went 3-3 over the remaining 8 years of his career.

I'm glad he's clean (for decades now) and apparently healthy and happy now.

 

I sure do. I watched "Gentleman Gerry" with interest after his KO of Dino Dennis. I was a little more impressed when he made a mess of Jimmy Youngs face a while later and saw he had some promise. Iirc he went on to KO Ron Lyle, and then of course a 54 second blow-out of Ken Norton. It has to be said, although I was impressed with said performances, Young, Lyle and Norton were a little past there best when they faced Big Gerry. Lyle was KOd out of the ring with a vicious left hook to the body. An odd fact here, if my memory serves correctly. Ken Norton had KOd Duane Bobick exactly 4 years to the day and month at the same venue in one round, taking 4 seconds longer to get Bobick out of there than Gerry did to take Ken out!! How many on here remember that one then?

 

Yeah, I was really looking forward to Norton-Bobick because I was a huge (9 year old) Norton fan at that time. It is remarkable that a less than one-minute kayo vs. a white hope happened exactly four years apart in Madison Square Garden, both fights involving Norton.

I learned years later that Bob Marley died the day Cooney beat Norton. At that age (13) I was generally fairly aware of what was happening in the news, combing over the paper & watching the morning shows. I was keyed up on the fight and am a little surprised that Marley's death passed me by at the time. But I wasn't the music fan then that I am now.

 

Cooney was steered away from his contemporaries. He was part of that terrific 76 timeframe that saw guys like Tate/Dokes/Page/ turning pro like Cooney. But Gerry was a known amatuer but certainly not with the amatuer pedigree of the guys above. More like a regional talent and along the lines of 2 other guys from that timeframe Thomas & Witherspoon.

And the big talk at the time was Stevenson turning pro. So there was a big list of up and comers & Gerry did not face the fighters those guys did, especially Tate.

As for the Lyle ko, Ron was ruined by the Foreman fight. No easy fights ever again for Lyle and he had his hands full with the Ledouxs and the Stan Wards. And before the Cooney disaster, he was ko'd in 2 by Lynn Ball of all people. And that guy was not even part of the boxing radar.

Norton was as bad. After the Holmes fight, blown out by Shavers in less than a round.. Then the Cobb fight which was a war and razor close. In his prime, he'd have a picnic with that guy. Then the bout with Ledoux and everyone thought Ledoux was awarded a late ko in the fight. So then some time off and Kenny goes in against a hitter in cooney. perfect opponent selection is all that ever was. No different than say Norton when he took on Ron Stander==at the time they fought, Stander had nothing..

So in a nutshell, The Cooney camp was not taking on other pedigreed heavies--that were calling him out like Dokes/Page/Spoon/ even Snipes-- but instead fighting guys with very very poor recent form. Lyle and Norton were not beating any decent heavies around at the time.

 

I'm currently reading his autobiography which just came out. I highly recommend it.

 

I remember watching his comeback fights against Brown, Chaplin, and Gregg. When I heard he got a shot at Spinks, I thought it was going to be easy for Cooney. His losing shocked me, although knowing now that he was drinking heavily in training camp has worn that feeling off.
When he came back against Foreman I didn't give him a chance, but he hurt Big George and had a good first round.

 

When I finally watched him he was better than I expected

 

There is a lot of dislike for Cooney on this site but you saw it right he had some skills and serious all time power all one has to do is watch him objectively....every fighter I steered and protected to a point....going undefeated is no accident

 

Cooney had a massive left hook but little else. He was brought up through the ranks very carefully with the objective of cashing in fighting for the heavyweight championship.

He got his title shot and was stopped, made his millions and never was a serious contender again aside from a disastrous affair with Spinks that put an exclamation point on his limitations as a fighter.

 

Cooney has a beautiful left hook to the body and a clubbing right hand.
He had nice career but it totally fell apart after the Holmes fight. A fight where he fought well.
He beat 3 past prime big name opponents in very dramatic fashion - Jimmy Young, Ron Lyle, Ken Norton.
Then gave a prime great heavy a solid fight.
Nothing to be ashamed about.
Drugs, alcohol, confidence issues derailed remainder of his career. Still his 3 defeats were all by hall of fame fighters. Holmes, Spinks, Foreman.
Cooney was legit.

 

Yeah, I agree but...after a good performance against Holmes, who had the tools to beat him he should have stepped RIGHT back into the ring 6 months later against a top flight contender but...he didn't fight again for 2 frigging years!!!! nuff said...