Bert Cooper Discussion

He came into real prominence with his blowout of olympic hero Willie Dewit. His power was real, but he was a headcase. You never knew what version of Cooper you'd see; the spirited, focused fighter you saw against Mercer and Holyfield (both losses, incidentally) or the guy that just showed up for a payday, as we saw against Bowe.

 

Oliver MCcall called Bert Cooper the hardest hitter he meet in the ring. Cooper had some stuff. With him it was outside of the ring troubles and bad management.

 

Hit like a mule, sometimes had problems delivering it though. Tending to be one of these that, if you fought his fight and went toe-to-toe, he could be a nightmare. If you fought him from range, Cooper had very little game.

The fights with Moorer and Holyfield get the attention, but Mercer-Cooper is a good one too. Cooper takes a licking but keeps on ticking.

 

I was shocked as hell when Cooper sent Holyfield stumbling into the ropes in their fight. Holyfield came out in the first round like gang busters and dropped Cooper with a solid body shot. I thought it was going to be a quick night. But Cooper came to fight, and he hurt Holyfield twice badly. Holyfield was soooo close to be stopped. And then, after the fight, they had George Foreman on satellite commenting on the fight. He was saying some rubbish about how he really wanted Holyfield again and how he would tie the referee's hands up so when Foreman hurt him the ref couldn't save him! Typical B.S from George. But a great fight between Cooper and Holyfield!

 

Joe Frazier called Cooper a 'pure punching machine' and it's not a stretch to believe he actually hit harder than his former mentor.
I think Coop was one of those guys who was a little too big for the cruisers but a little too small for the heavyweights, sort of a 'between weights' kind of guy.

As has been noted, he had legitimate power, and anyone he hit cleanly would stay hit. I've never seen Evander as hurt from one shot as when Cooper hit him. His legs turned to jelly and he was clearly in major distress. The next barrage of punches had him sinking into the ropes, and there was the controversial intervention by Mills Lane.
I really hope someone puts that fight on youtube one day - it was a pier six brawl if ever there was one.

It's just such a pity he let drugs ruin his career.

 

It's a shame Cooper failed to live up to the Smokin' nickname. At his best, he resembled a speeding steam locomotive, but didn't share Frazier's dedication. His natural style of forceful attack required tremendous conditioning and endurance, but he tried to get by on punching power alone, and paid for it. One of the definitive underachievers of his era. With excellent training habits, he could have outhustled anybody who withstood his power. He really should have become another Frazier, but that's the difference between an underachiever and an ATG.

 

bert is from my neighborhood, yet i have never had the chance to meet him, he is my favorite boxer and would kill for the opportunity to just get the chance to talk with him, i was told by charles farrell, a former boxing manager(not of cooper's but other fighters) that he was prolly the hardest puncher that ever lived, he described him as a crusierweight earnie shavers, he is the only man to ever actually hurt oliver mccall, which i think you should deserve a belt for alone, he supposedly is the nicest warmest guy you could meet but born with an ungodly punching power, his problem was crack and lack of discipline plus i think frazier prodded him into being a hw when he wanted to stay down in the cruiser division, then after frazier his manager was that scumbag rick parker, who i think didn't really help him one bit tho under him he got his 2 title shots, his dependence on drugs and lack of discipline basically ruined him to the point where he didn't bother to train and would just hope to land something big, and thats why he lost to the name guys, he was the nabf crusierweight champion 2x, the nabf hw champion, the penn state hw and the wbf hw champion,

 

Good post.
You really should try and see if you can't contact Coop somehow. We'd all love to know how he's doing.

 

i've met his brother-in-law and manager Budini Nance, he says he is doing good and wants to make a comeback, its weird i know a miliion and one people that have ran into Bert but as his biggest fan i never have, i would love to talk to the dude and help him out, i think he lives with Nance in Chester, and then when he is not with him he stays with his brother in the Kensington section of Philly, my buddy opened up a gym in chester and bert from time to time stops in to train, i came close several times to meeting him this way, from what i understand tho bert is doing terribly tho, he's basically strung out on crack and a total mess, hopelessly addicted to it, i know my buddy has let him crash in the gym several times, thats the thing he had all these people swinging on hi jock when he was in his prime and all these people just used him and bled him dry, of course when he needed them they bolted on him, its very sad, like i said i'd like to help him out any way i could

 

You've got to be kidding me. :dead

Nice to hear he's doing well though.

*Edit*

Sorry Mario, I must have misread your post. You say Bert is still on the drugs? Can't you guys try and help him out?

 

cooper never ducked anyone, most of the fights he lost he should have won, he was always willing to take on anyone, he had the killer instinct