How Good Was the Comeback George Foreman's Chin?

A well trained and undruged cooper could have certianly given George an interesting test. I am inclined to thinking however, that Foreman would still have stopped him at some point, and probably before long. Although Bert showed up in miserable condition for that fight, he had a style that was taylor made for Foreman.

 

i have that mercer-cooper fight....mercer won but he was ****ed up big time...cooper damn near broke his jaw and the swelling was grotesque..cooper was a good fighter just let the demons overtake him

 

I remember that fight as though it were yesterday, but it was many years ago. It was in the summer of 1990, and broadcasted on regular network television ( one of the last fights I ever saw on a non-cable network ). The fight was briefly interrupted by news briefings of the the Iraqi invasion on Kuwait, and America's decision to intervene.

It was indeed a bloody war. Both men were badly hurt, and refused to quit. That match was nearly 20 years ago, and had they fought today, I'm almost positive that the fight would have been stopped by today's standards. Cooper was dropped in the first round, and for a moment, I thought Mercer was going to get an early KO, which I'm sure would have scared the **** out of a lot of other contenders and prospects at the time. If I'm not mistaken, Gil Clancy was at ringside, and was very impressed with both fighter's performance that day.

Just two months later, Cooper would get battered in only two rounds by Riddick Bowe, on the undercard of Holyfield-Douglas. I often wonder if the pounding he took from Mercer just months earlier may have effected him in that fight. Cooper probably should have taken about 6 months off, and fought a few journeyman before getting back in the ring with a world beater. Of course, hindsite is always 20/20.

 

Although Qawi was shot to pieces by the time he fought Foreman, I tend to think that he was a better fighter technically than Bert Cooper was. We also have to consider that Foreman was only a year and maybe 7 fights into his comeback, so some rust may still have been present.

 

Better then any other former Heavyweight Champs.

 

It was granite. He didn't get knocked down once in his second career.

 

After seeing that right he took from holyfield f'd say he had the chin of a god

 

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Do you like them BIG! Chris?

 

When Holyield hurt Foreman in rd 3 he beat him to the punch, and in rd 9 it was a perfect counter as George was coming forward. I think Foreman's chin as this stage in his career was one of the very best in HW history, but his lack of speed and slow reflexes meant that he was vulnerable to well timed punches.

 

It should be noted that the young Foreman's chin was quite formidable too. Lyle was the only one too truly hurt him when he wasn't exhausted, and he could sock.

Look at the punches Foreman takes at the end of rd 5 in Zaire. He doesn't seem that hurt, mostly confused, and to take punches like those after exerting himself like he did right up to then is something not that many could do. Watching old Foreman against Holyfield, I would say he looks more vulnerable to less deadly combination punching than what Ali subjected him to.

 

..foreman was quoted as saying that if cooney had known how much he had hurt him, cooney would have come on and george "wou'd have been in trouble." cooney wasn't much of a fighter but he could sock, and for foreman to shake off a punch like that and hide the fact he was hurting shows what a great chin he had.