THE ONLY KIND OF MATCHUPVTHE GUTLESS ONE AGREED TO. DONT KID YRSELVES. CALAMITY COONEY WAS A RANK COWARD. NOTHING MORE. CHERRY PICKER WITH A PORCELAIN PUNCHCATCHER.
I sympathize with these ideas to some extent...but I was around when the Holmes fight and I can tell you, Gerry was the best heavy in the world at the time who wasn't Larry. That said, if Larry had fought him a couple of years before Cooney would have been stopped in that second round.
So was I and no he was not. He had maybe 4 good rds in a losing effort. Pathetic. Weaver Page Dokes Witherspoon Mr. Snipes all knock him out. The Page that fought Tillis in Nov destroys him. And I couldn't stand Page. Weavers left hook to the body and head is one of the most underrated punches EVER. Even Dundee said so. Cooney caves. No chin. No heart for fighting in the pit. No proof in his china filled and heartless career that he could beat any healthy young prime contender. He never did. He was a *****. Crying big hairy *****.
Nahhhhhhhhh. Cooney never beat a legitimate top 10 contender so claiming he is the next best is a huge leap of faith, and then some. Potentially maybe but he didn't fight anyone to prove it.
I respectfully agree to disagree (Page sucked imo, no offense...Thomas too). But it looks like you've been booted anyhoo.
I think it was the way he was taking people out, even Sports Illustrated picked Cooney in two (don't know if you knew that). But I respect your opinions quite a bit John. To me the other heavyweights at the time were even more of a joke compared to Holmes than Cooney. As upset as some people will be over this, to me in 1982 only Weaver was a truly viable, tested contender (champ) and (besides Cooney) had a right to be in the ring with Holmes. Berbick had already been dominated, Page imo wasn't really that impressive at all (though his man-boobs were). Tillis was so inconsistent as to be negligible, and Coetzee had already been knocked out.
Ha! You beat me to it, I wrote something this morning similar. But I put Cooney right up there, too. People make a lot of the age of Norton, Young, etc. But it was only a couple of years before that those guys were pretty much on top of the heap.
