Anyone see Foreman-Cooney live?

Yeah, I've seen it described as Foreman "casually crossing a street" before killing Cooney with that shot.

One of Foreman's earlier comeback fights was against Tyson sparring partner who's name I forget.

Hit him with a similar uppercut, one of the hardest shots I think I've ever seen land that didn't knock someone down. Guys mouthpiece flew into the crowd. Everyone oooooh's. The guy stumbles around bent over, Foreman just stands there.

Classic.

 

Know what I'm talking about with the mouthpiece uppercut, radiant?

 

I actually saw the fight about a week after it happened on cable. It was originally broadcasted on a pay per view circuit, then later replayed on showtime championship boxing. I was in highschool in those days, and usually only watched fights on regular cable, as my parents did not always allow me to charge fights to their credit card. The fight was commentated and analyzed by Larry Holmes and two other guys who's names I don't remember anymore, though one of them was a regular on showtime.

Cooney looked very good in the opening round, although I suspect that Foreman was only feeling him out. Gerry's jab and hook to the body were about as good as I had ever seen them. At one point, he rocked George a few times, and at the end of the first round, had one of the ringside men saying that he thought he saw a bit of swelling over the eye of Foreman. In the second round, Cooney continued to use the same approach but George had made an adjustment and began to use the right a bit more. He nailed Cooney near the ropes with a combination of shots, and Gerry fell down on his back. He got up, pulled his trunks up if I recall, and two seconds later, Foreman came right back at him, and dropped Cooney in one of the ugliest ways that I ever saw a man fall. Gerry fell sideways and landed with a great big THUD.

Mathew Hilton vs Doug Dewitt were on the undercard of that fight, I believe.

 

The mouthpiece fight was against Mike Jameson I believe. Foreman nailed Jameson with a monster punch and Jameson's mouthpiece went flying.

 

Yeah, I saw it live on TV at about 4AM. (because of the time zones)

Foreman became the real deal after that fight. As a Tyson fan at the time, I remember thinking "Oh ****."

It was a great performance from George, and his composure after knocking Cooney down was extemely impressive. That's one area where 90's George was definitely better than the 70's version - he was so relaxed in there and it helped a great deal in situations that required a cool head.

Another thing I remember was how dejected Gil Clancy looked after the fight. He really thought Jerry could beat George.

 

I saw it live. Foreman was shaken up in round one before he lowered the boom on Cooney. Cooney went down face first. Cooney must have needed some money to take that fight. After the fight, Foreman said Cooney was his brother in terms of power. Cooney could hit.

The undercard had Morrison vs Tills. Morrison scored a quick 1st round KO, and his manager Clayton was smiling ear to ear because Morrison looked very good in this fight.

 

George could look awesome against handpicked, immobile opponents who had fragile chins!

 

All the same, it's sometimes not who you beat (and I think you're selling even this older Cooney a little short) - it's how you beat them.

And this was a big win for Foreman because I remember that it was the first performance that made a lot of people sit up and pay attention to what had been viewed as a bit of record-padded by the fat man up to that point. George turned a few heads.

 

Foreman was a guest on 'Late Night With David Letterman' after that victory.
Letterman was his usual smartass self and joked to Big George that: "Isn't beating Gerry Cooney like the same thing as beating, say, someone like me?" Foreman looked visably annoyed for a sec then quickly put his happy face back on. He jokingly admonished Letterman and replied: "I am going to tell him (Cooney) you said that. Gerry is a very hard puncher. When he hit me I thought to myself: I better knock him out soon before he knocks me out." It was easy for a late night comic to bristle at beating Cooney. Foreman, of course, knew that it was not as easy as he made it look.

 

But my point is that the Gerry Cooney fight was a record-padding fight. The only difference between Gerry Cooney and the collection of stiffs that George had fought up until that time was that Cooney had much more name recognition and was once a big power puncher who had built up his record on a collection of stiffs as well. I'm sure there were many heavyweight fighters in 1990 who would have disposed of Cooney just as quickly and as spectacularly as Foreman did. Take away Cooney's name recognition and you have another soft touch on George's resume. Why else would Foreman agree to fight Gerry Cooney but not any of the strong AND active AND rated fighters at the time?

 

I think a win over Razor Ruddock or even James Bonecrusher Smith would have gone much further to enhance George's credibility at the time. George and his advisor's were very calculating and deliberate. The fact that they agreed to fight Cooney should tell you all you need to know about how good Cooney was at the time.

 

Boxing is "showmanship" too.

It was billed as "The Geezers at Caesars".

I saw it "live" in PPV.

It was an entertaining fight, between two old guys that could hit.

I wouldn't want to be in the ring with either one.....eating Cooney's
hook, or George's right hand.

 

George fought multiple fighters early on who had damned good chins.

Qawi's as tough as they come, Rocky Sekorski was mobile AND iron chinned.