Gerry Cooney vs Mike Weaver Why Did The Fight Not Happen?

Money...... Holmes was considered a hard sell by himself in 1982. But, with a fight against Cooney, big money and interest came through..... I love reviewing "Holmes-Cooney" when my homies and I are hanging around the crib fired-up and buzzing..... 'Tis one of my top-10 heavyweight fights of all-time..... WORD!

MR.BILL

NOTE:

I love Mike Weaver and all, however, he was an enigma as a ringer.... Had he been better managed early on, well, who knows? Weaver was not a big name even as WBA champion.... Cooney prolly would've secured $2 million dollars at best for that title challenge.....

 

Because there was less money in fighting Weaver and there's a good chance the experienced, powerful Weaver would have sparked Cooney. It made financial sense to wait for the money fight against Holmes.

 

I'm not disputing the account earlier about the WBA ruling, but I believe Gerry passed on at least one title fight before fighting Holmes claiming a right arm injury.

 

I like Weaver a lot, but I think Cooney's got the style to beat him, probably blow him out early.

 

Well, they can't all be legends like Derrick Jefferson and Jeff Wooden...

:roll:

 

It would have been a belter of a fight, I'll Go with weaver, the better quality of fighter.

 

Cooney would have executed Weaver back then inside 4 rounds

 

Cooney versus Weaver could’ve been interesting. It’s either Cooney by brutal knockout early or Weaver by brutal knockout late. I actually think this is a decent matchup for Cooney because Weaver was a slow starter, more of a plodder with his footwork, and he got hit a LOT. Given Cooney’s height, reach, explosive power and fast-starting style, it could get ugly quick for Weaver. All that said, Weaver had a really good jaw and was extremely tough, and we know he carried his power late. Hence, if Cooney does not get him out of there early, I think Weaver definitely stops a fading Cooney later, just as soon as he can penetrate that long range, and we know Cooney didn’t have the greatest chin. The problem for Weaver is he was so hittable, and as good as his chin was, I don’t know if his body and head could handle that brand of power early. If he does, it’s good night for Gerry.

 

most likely because the Whacko Twins realized they could go straight to Holmes for much more $$

 

this is true. after he beat Norton it was pretty much a lock Cooney was going to get a fight with Holmes. There was no need to risk it by facing Weaver first. His managers were too smart to risk the huge payday against Holmes.

 

It really doesn't make sense as Arum controlled Weaver and would have made a lot of money promoting a Weaver/Cooney fight.

 

The WBA and Bob Arum definitely blocked it.

None of it made any sense to fans or writers covering the sport at the time, either.

Weaver and Cooney agreed to fight. Weaver was going to make more defending against Cooney.

But the WBA threatened to strip Weaver unless he fought the lower ranked Tillis first.

Weaver wasn't a big enough star to scrap the WBA belt, so he had to take the smaller purse and go along with the WBA's edict.

It was just a case of Arum and the WBA flexing their control. If the WBC was in Don King's pocket at that time, the WBA was in Arum's.

Arum had TV connections. Arum promoted most of Ali's later title fights (Shavers, Spinks 1 & 2). Arum promoted the WBA tournament after Ali retired and all the WBA heavyweight title fights post Ali to that point. Arum promoted most of the WBA title fights in the lower divisions at the time, too, that were televised in the US.

Cooney and his team didn't want to sign any long term agreements with any promoter. They wanted him to remain a free agent.

It certainly wasn't case of Weaver or Cooney avoiding each other. Guys who try to put the blame on either fighter or their teams are barking up the wrong tree.

It was all Arum, really, exerting control over the WBA, and Weaver not being a big enough star to tell the WBA to go to hell and vacate.

 

Arum had Weaver for one more fight. (Weaver's first two defenses.)

Cooney wasn't signed with Arum. Tillis was.

So Arum forced the WBA to, in turn, force Weaver to defend against Arum's highest rated contender.

Tillis had as much chance to beat Weaver as anyone else, at the time. Weaver wasn't highly thought of then by Arum.

Mike was an underdog against Tate and Coetzee. Arum was as shocked as anyone Weaver defeated Tate and Coetzee. Weaver was also the underdog when he defended against Dokes. Weaver had scored two come from behind knockouts in title fights before Tillis. But everyone expected him to lose sooner rather than later.

Arum and the judges tried to help Tillis as much as they could, too. The fight was staged in Chicago, where Tillis had fought most of his fights to that point. Tillis was only down two points on two cards after 15 rounds, despite running the whole night. But Tillis wasn't world class.

 

Why were people so hyped up on Tillis and invested in him? Iirc, at one point he had Dundee in his corner who eventually quit because he regarded Tillis as an underachiever and a slacker. The guy had so many hot/cold moments never managing to string together solid wins to stay relevant at the elite level, yet kept getting opportunities.

 

I love 14 year old threads with members long forgotten being dug up.