Frank Bruno Vs Gerry Cooney - 1984. Wembley Arena?

If this happened in May 84 instead of Bomber/Bonecrusher, this is Cooney's first bout since the Holmes lost.


Because of that I see Bruno coming into the bout a very warm favourite.


But with nearly forty years of hindsight...


Bruno was as robotic as ever in this period. He had already shown (against Cummings) a natural inability to cover up and hold when stunned, and it would take the respected George Francis in his corner for him to be programmed with that skill a decade later.


At this time Bruno had not gone eight rounds in a fight, indeed only two of his fights had a bell for the fifth, he had, had no real experience of a big international fight, Cooney at least had the Holmes fight and had bigger fights than Frank; albeit against shells of names of fighters.


So with no real confidence, as Cooney in many ways was just as kookie, I pick The Gentleman to win in the middle rounds.

 

This would never be a fight either guy would have taken.

The people behind Cooney and the people behind Frank did not pick live opponents for their golden goose unless some kind of title was at steak. These are both “house Fighters” you don’t get two house fighters ever fighting each other.

it’s like Wrestling. You don’t match two “faces” against each other.

But the Holmes Cooney pushed was streets ahead of the version of Witherspoon that Frank fought in London. And Cooney did better versus Larry than Frank did versus Tim.

That Larry beats the hell out of the Tim that Bruno fought.

Not that Cooney deserves to be given the edge with “London Witherspoon”, because Tim was still a live guy..and Cooney did not beat live guys, so Bruno only lasts half as long against the Larry that Gerry fought.

So if it had to happen, and it never would have, Cooney could have an edge over Frank Bruno based on doing better against a good Larry than Frank could ever hope for.

But how do you go about forecasting either guy winning a fight with a live guy when they never beat live guys?

Two of the most unseasoned contenders the heavyweight division ever produced

 

I narrowly went with Bruno. Great fight for the time it lasts

 

This

 

The cartel took Smith fir Frank and it was about the only gamble they ever took on him….and it backfired.

The Holmes fight made Cooney a million dollar fighter.

if you are steering the career of Cooney, you are not going to find him an unbeaten opponent like Frank who has no title and really wants to win.

likewise, if you are steering the career of Frank Bruno, why take a Larry Holmes opponent like Cooney for the kind of money that would generate without a title on the line?

To be absolutely honest with you, without the confidence booster of a quick Eddie Gregg win behind him Gerry could get the jitters. He’d be facing an unbeaten guy. A non champion. But a guy who wants to become a champion.

This is not totally beyond Frank. If he didn’t know who Cooney was, that this was “the Gerry Cooney” that Larry Holmes had just fought, Frank could possibly come out as assured of a win as he was versus Coetzee and do the business. He totally could!

However, I grew up on Bruno. The tension, the responsibility and the National pressure of the whole country would get to Frank on the big occasions could be just as likely. He would be made to feel his career would depend on this one fight, then look at an opponent who was not already mentally defeated like the vast majority of imported journeymen and fall guys he was used to blasting out, and then panic enough so as not to deliver the required performance. Sapping his strength, fire and attributes in the way he performed against Smith. Where he attempted a patient safety first performance, an unfamiliar approach, and slipped up big time when he had the fight won.

 

That's certainly true.

The other side has Cooney as a road warrior. Sure don't see that playing out well. Actually the american heavies usually don't fare to well at it. And I sure do not think he handles the pressure well. Not with everyone in Wembley cheering for Bruno.

Another big big factor for Gentleman Gerry is if he is the guy entering the arena first---and the Bruno camp won't take the fight any other way. But Cooney never bothered to stretch those legs and keep active once he got in the ring. 2 national anthems and all the drawn out announcements might see Cooney bone dry after the wait and long ring walk. Cooney does not have the punch resistance for the Bruno shots any more than Bruno can eat those left hooks. So I think Cooney and that minimal head movement of his can get caught ear;y--1 or 2 rounds.

But like you said, fight never ever happens. 1% chance, if that. More like the Cooney camp takes on a made to order opponent like a 1984 version of Leon Spinks. In madison square so the Cooney camp has the crowd advantage. A brutal ko and lots of folks are right back on the bandwagon.

Nice thing with these kinds of bouts we never got is the loser pretty much drops out of contention. And their management has a long rebuilding job after a ko loss.

And I'm not telling you anything you don't know---but since about 1975, you can tell more by who a guy bypassed and didn't fight than all the fights they had. especially the higher up in weight classes you go.

 

Is there a way for them both to lose?

I agree that it would almost certainly never have happened.

I might give the edge to Bruno, as the more consistent performer of the two.

He might not have been the best contender out there, but he could be trusted to be Bruno.

 

Not sure if Cooney did better against Holmes that Bruno did versus Witherspoon. Larry was pretty much outboxing Geery all the way up to stopping him. Cooney had his moments but all too few.
Up to the middle of their bout,I would say that Bruno was pretty even with Witherspoon. Then Frank gassed out and the writing was on the wall.



As for the post - at this point in time,Bruno was too inexperienced for Cooney. After some early successes Bruno gets stopped.

 

Yes I see what you mean. Bruno gave Witherspoon all he could handle right up until he couldn’t live with his own pace that he set and the unfamiliar adjustment to taking so many blows in return eventually got the better of him.

The main point is Tim Witherspoon was not bringing his “A”-game into their fight. And Frank still lost.

Larry was still hot stuff when he met Cooney.

If Bruno can’t cope with 70% of Witherspoon he would not even be competitive against 100% prepared Larry Holmes.

Cooney was at least competitive with a good Larry. Bruno never would have been based on the Spoon fight.

 

Having said that, I would trust Bruno to bring the kind of performance he showed against Witherspoon, more than I would trust Cooney to bring the kind of performance he showed against Holmes.

 

Yes

 

That’s fair. We don’t know Cooney could ever produce that again.

Whereas Frank always delivered. Even if it meant going out on his shield. But he always went into a loss with a decent enough confidence boosters behind him for Dutch courage.

Cooney disappointed against Spinks and Foreman, two guys selected for him, so he was supposed to win. Both backfired. However, Gerry had no warm up fights for either of those matches. Cooney was 11 months shy of ring action for Spinks and 31 months shy of ring action going against Foreman.

Cooney was a part time celebrity fighter by then.

To be fair, I think Frank went about 13 months of inactivity before Tyson the first time.

Interestingly, 23-0 Philipp Brown met both Cooney and Bruno just two months apart in 1984.

unbeaten against Cooney, Brown, coming off a one year layoff himself, lasted just 4 rounds. In his next fight 23-1 Brown takes Frank Bruno the full ten rounds in London. A fight that was never televised because it was so tame.

seven years and six defeats later a young Riddick Bowe only beats Brown one round faster than Cooney had. And by then Brown had been in longer fights with Marvis Frazier, Mike Weaver, Johnny Duplooy and Pierre Coetzer.