Watched this one a few years ago on youtube. It happened in September of 1984 and was the first fight Gerry had since losing to Larry Holmes over two years earlier. Brown was a decent sized heavyweight at 6'3", 217 lbs and at 29 years of age appeared to be in pretty good shape. He sported a respectable record of 22-0-2-14. Neither man had been terribly active since 1982. Gerry had been off for two years and three months while Brown had fought once within that time frame in a bout that came several months earlier at the beginning of 1984. Phillip was no world beater but had the resemblance of someone who was at least fringe and Gerry did a nice job of taking him apart. For some reason this fight fell under the radar of most boxing fans and is seldom talked about.. Gerry handed him the first loss and stoppage of his career. While Brown never went on to have much success, he went the 10 round distance with a prime Bruno in his very next bout, then went on a small winning streak over the next couple years. Phillip wouldn't get stopped again until 1990, six years after his meeting with C00ney.. It was actually an entertaining bout and a nice performance for a comeback Gerry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUW48edTlDk
****ey was so frustrating to follow. He was obviously a head case, a guy who wasn't sure if he wanted to fight or now. It was really aggravating to see him win these fights and then disappear again for a year or two.
I can remember him outpointing Jimmy Young in the early 80s, and after his C00ney loss, I think it was Frank Bruno who had to be happy with a points win over him.
I think at his pinnacle Brown was at least a fringe contender. By the time he started fighting guys like Marvis Frazier and Mike Weaver his skills had been reduced to journeyman level. Going 10 rounds with Frank Bruno showed that he could take a legit heavyweight punch. He's not pretty to watch on film but he could certainly fight. Interesting how so many other journeyman, prospects and fringe types from the 80's are widely remembered but this guy fell below the radar.. Management issues perhaps.
Philipp and I fought out of the same gym for a while. Good guy. He really wasn't a fighter at heart. I'm pretty sure he started boxing when he was in the pen, and he started late (in his early twenties, I think). The guy running the boxing program saw this guy with huge arms and said, "Hey, you wanna box?" and Philipp did it more for the special perks and not because he liked to fight. He was more into lifting weights than sparring and running. His management at the time stunk and didn't try too hard to find guys his size to spar so he never really developed as he should. I think he would have been perfectly happy fighting trial horses in southwest Louisiana his whole career.
Going strictly from memory, wasn't Brown a C00ney sparring partner and sort of a sacrificial lamb for C00ney's comeback fight? I also seem to remember the C00ney - Brown fight being postponed several times before it actually happened. --- Yep, here's a NYT article stating that Brown was C00ney's sparring partner and that the fight was scheduled for July in Dallas, to be televised by HBO. http://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/07/sports/gerry-****ey-s-lament.html
