I have Fury a slight favourite against Usyk but only very slightly. And I could change my mind before they meet. BUT, if he were to fight four more times and defeat Whyte, Usyk, AJ, and one other ranked fighter (Joyce / Parker / Ruiz / Ortiz), he would have had a very decent run and resume, and comprehensively cleaned out the division, and retire undefeated.
Gentleman Gerry is a guy that would have benefitted a ton from a boxing world of 4 titles. And under that scenario is looked at much different today. Jones and Rappaport would have mortgaged everything for a soft touch and weakest of the 4 champs. Or, had a vacant tile to fight for. And we the boxing fans would have seen matches like Gerry against Leon Spinks. Lee Canalito. Maybe for a step up in class Snipes or Tillis. 84 version of John Tate. Mustapha Muhammad moving up. And the Cooney camp would have never entered the HBO tournament. But a sport with 4 titles instead of going through Holmes changes a lot of things.
I remember when I heard he was fighting Michael Spinks, I thought it was the perfect fight. I thought he would kill Spinks. Sure Spinks was the better boxer but Cooney was a huge heavyweight, and had that great left hook. He gave Holmes a good fight, and walked through Brown, Chaplin, and Eddie Gregg, Gregg was also a big heavyweight. I thought the matchup was all wrong for Spinks, mainly because Spinks had come up from lightheavy. When I heard that Spinks stopped him I was shocked. Nowadays after reading how Cooney was drinking during training its not shocking at all, but back in 1987, at least for me it was.
I agree with you last statement. Furys resume is very weak at the moment IMO. On paper the Wlad win looks good but we don't give much credit to Marciano for beating an old Louis, so why give Fury props for beating Wlad? You can only fight the guys they put in front of you. If, as you say, Fury beats the last four guys you mentioned (AJ, Whyte, Usyk, and one other contender), then he's cleaned out the division and that would put him in some great historical company.
Comparing Gerry Cooney to Mike Tyson is ridiculous, Cus D Amato was a famed trainer, Mike fought quality opposition on his way up, ranked contenders, not stiffs like Gerry did, sure Dokes and others faced Jimmy Young, but Young was at the very end of his career, so was Ken Norton. Cooney has no balance, should have played Basketball or Football. Cooney could have not beaten Tim Witherspoon Pinklon Thomas, and Greg Page in their respective primes, Cooney only fights fighters who are at the very end of their boxing careers, that does not say much. You like Cooney if you like, I have my own opinion of him, the only purpose he was touted was I will not say because again it is inappropriate to say, but you get what I mean. Larry said it best following the title defense against Leon Spinks. I am saying. Holmes badly exposed Cooney as a Fraud.
I didn’t say Gerry Cooney was as good as Mike Tyson: I said they had things in common in that they were both from New York and very marketable (and had great marketing machines behind them — Mike didn’t turn pro and knock out a couple of stiffs and suddenly have the New York Times and Sports Illustrated at his doorstep … he was as carefully packaged and cultivated as an attraction through well-connected Jacobs and Cayton, as Cooney was by the Whacko Twins). If either had been from Nebraska they’d have risen to their level but it would have been without a lot of hoopla for quite a while and they wouldn’t have been ‘instant attractions.’ Gerry Cooney was 15-0 when he fought one-loss Eddie Lopez. Mike was 17-0 when he fought one-loss Jesse Ferguson … on network TV. Up til then neither had fought anyone of note. What contenders did Mike Tyson fight before he fought Berbick for the title? James Tillis was less accomplished than Young and past his prime — he was already a gatekeeper/journeyman … just like Jimmy Young. The only other notable fighter Tyson faced before Berbick was Marvis Frazier, who was not more of a contender than Norton was when Cooney fought him — show me where Marvis was coming off a win against anyone of Cobb’s stature. Tyson of course accomplished more and faced lots of contenders after he was a champion. But he was very carefully guided up to that point. There was no prime-ish Larry Holmes at the top of the division when Tyson came up. Had Gerry been afforded the opportunity to fight Mike Weaver for the title there’s a very reasonable chance he wins that and captures a belt, then fights Holmes to try to unify (with not very different results, most likely). And if you don’t think Victor Valle was a damned good trainer, I really don’t know what to tell you. Cus did well with Floyd and Torres and Tyson, but did he ever train anyone of Billy Costello’s modest talents to a world title?
You are entitled to your opinion of Gerry Cooney, but again so am I, to me he was nothing to brag about. Valle was no Kevin Rooney, Cus D Amato or even an Angelo Dundee.
Tell me all about Kevin Rooney’s success as a trainer. He had one guy, who was taught by others but in a system he himself had been raised/fought in. He’s nowhere near Valle’s level of accomplishment.
28-3 with no top ten wins how can he be an alltime great? 3 Kayo Losse's to HOFERS okay, Great left but against who, he was able to last longer against Holmes then he would have for his FOULS. Foreman liked to have killed him!
Cooney had a great left hook against Social Security recipients who needed one last payday, Jerry Quarry was by far way better, the guys Quarry fought were at least in their prime, too young to get Social Security.
Richard I agree, he does not have an alltime resume to go to , good fighter sure, Alltime great? he just did not prove it. Quarry was ranked #1 1968 and 1970 both times he knocked out the no.1 contender , and thats how it should be. I never thought Duane Bobick should have been ranked over Ron Lyle or Earnie Shavers without defeating them, And Cooney did not go up or down the top ten in his career , Smart smart management. $$$$$$
ATG puncher for sure. I guess it's possible Cooney might very well have been the second greatest heavy in the world when he fought Holmes; he certainly never fought that good again. I remember when the fight was made wishing Holmes had given Weaver a rematch instead. But I was interested in Cooney, too. If he's an ATG heavy, he'd be below Wilder, Weaver...
