How far could Cooper of gone?

when oliver mccall was asked who was the hardest puncher he was ever hit by it was not mike tyson it was bert cooper. bert big problem was cocaine he was a drug addict. alot of talent but it was wasted on drugs. after his war with moorer the next day he was arrested with crake cocaine at the nj airport.

 

Legitmate weight; he was a Cruiserweight who bulked up to make more money. (I do not blame him)

 

In an interview not long ago here on ESB he actually said that Buster Douglas believe it or not hit him the hardest.

 

Why does everyone seem to use "of" in place of "have" on this forum ?

 

Because we are not writing an English essay.

I would of done it properly if that was the case!

 

For one thing, the willpower to stay off cocaine.

 

Damn! And all this time, I've been trying to write English essays. (Probably because I flunked English four times.)

 

This was a problem. There was a sad but classic quote from the early 1990's that summed the whole thing up. An event was staged called the People's Choice Heavyweight Tournament. It deserves a thread of its own. The tournament format was single elimination format of 3 round fights. Cooper, Biggs, Bone Crusher Smith, Tubbs, were among in the field of re-cycled 1980's heavyweights who accepted the invitation. When a reporter asked Biggs about his chances, Biggs said he thinks he'll win. When pressed as to why Biggs replied, “ When I look at the field, my own drug problems don't look so bad. "

If Cooper didn't have as many outside the ring issues, and had better management; he could have been a regular top ten contenders, and possible world alphabet champion. In fact Cooper nearly upset a prime Holyfield. Coke is a dangerous drug for anyone, but it is especially so for boxers who experience more up’s and down’s than most people.

 

Just generally I think you'd be suprised how important and beneficial a promoter, manager and trainer is. The first two taking the business load off you and the last guy gudiing you. When these guys let you have three months preparation for each fight it helps. Not only that but mentally being there i.e. not into drugs etc

Just a general focus on business, personal life and training.

 

"I would have done it properly, if that w(ere) the case."

 

cooper was dogged by cocaine and alcohol his whole career for starters, he never got into proper shape, but he had the most ungodly punching power, really no one out there could hit as hard as he could, even oliver mccall said the hardest shot he took was from cooper (the douglas comment was in an actaul match, cooper was mccall's sparing partner) when cooper started out with frazier, he was prodded to bump up from cruiserweight to heavyweight which judging by his loss to reggie gross and carl williams i don't think he really wanted to move up at first, frazier was really trying to relive his glory through bert, later in his career he was managed by rick parker, a real cokehead scumbag, he was nothing but trouble, i'm sure he encouraged bert's drug use, he has always been his worst enemy, he was really like a cruiserweight earnie shavers, no one hit harder than him but his lack of conditioning did him in, he lost to the name guys cuz he went in simply hopin to land something big

 

for someone who never really had it together with discipline, he got really far,he still managed to win some titles, nabf cruiserweight title and nabf heavyweight title the wbf heavyweight title, the pa state hw title, a 2x world title challenger, and he fought for the nba hw title as well but lost in that bid

 

Well he came very close to actually winning the title, the first man to drop Holyfield.
RIP Burt

 

Would he have benefited from staying with Joe Frazier? I mean Frazier’s style is what he excelled at.

He definitely needed better defensive skills & conditioning. He had a great shot at beating Moorer . I remember he had a crazy war with Ray Mercer that showed he had some toughness.