In this battle of two top ranked punchers of Heavyweight Histort, could Abe find himself fodder for one of Gerry's sneaky blows? Or would the Great White Hope be no match the Long Island Ape?
Interestingly enough both of these men’s best outings were their losing efforts to all time great champions which as coincidence would have it ended in the 13th round. Abe Simon was 6’4” and his weight ranged from 240 to 250 plus. Cooney was commonly listed as 6’6” with prime weight ranging from 220-225. Both men hit very hard. Simon probably had the better single win over a young Joe Walcott. But he also lost to a lot of guys who weren’t even contender material. I selected Cooney to win by KO on the polls but am willing to listen to opposing arguments
Hardly. Cooney had snap and knew how to box. Abe was a pituitary case and tough but he had openings you could drive a truck through. Cooney not only hit like a mule kicks but was quick and could fill those openings. Cooney by KO.
Louis said that Simon gave him his hardest fight, for whatever that is worth. He said that every punch that Simon hit him with, shook him to his core. We see that fight as a one sided beatdown, and it sort of was, but Louis was a swan in that fight. He looked elegant on the surface, but he was pedaling hard below the surface. Now if Cooney is in with a man like that, then he is going to have problems.
Cooney early. Louis didn’t take him early because he’s smaller in height and weight, which means he has to wait for Simon to make errors and can’t force the fight as much, yes he can pressure at times, but cautiously since Simon could reach Louis a lot easier and it would be dangerous just jumping on his straight away, and considering he was light years ahead skill wise, he was right to pick his spots more in that fight and use his boxing more. Cooney was more similar in size to Simon, so he could force the action straight away, he’d light the cumbersome Simon up with wicked combinations and get him out of there, he could actually push him off to get combinations off, and unlike Louis, I think it’d be a good idea for a Cooney to jump on him since he didn’t have the best gas tank and wasn’t amazing at boxing cautiously anyway, not saying he couldn’t out of Simon, he could, but it’d be less risky to just try and get him out of there early, Cooney is much quicker and has better technique and balance, so he could beat him to the punch in mid-close range and he was a great finisher and combination puncher, and with Simon being stiff and cumbersome, bad balance and defence, he’s a sitting duck for Cooney’s devastating combinations.
Hard to tell how good Abe even was considering all the film we have of him consists of Louis giving him one of the most horrific beatdowns I’ve ever seen in their rematch. Apparently Abe was more impressive first time around, his feinting troubled Joe. An interesting fact about Abe is that he was apparently born without the ability to feel pain.
Ehh I’d say Cooney looked a fair bit better against Young than he did against Holmes. He’d fought 3 and a half minutes in two years the time he fought Holmes. His rust showed imo especially in the second half of the bout when he started to fatigue.
