I feel like Cooney would stop Botha before or during the middle rounds of the fight considering how well he fared against both Young and Holmes... But again, Botha could sometimes give a tough fight if he chose to. Think of the Moorer fight. I feel like this one could be pretty entertaining. I'd pick Cooney every time if he's at his best.
Nah. Prime Botha was very tough. He was also quite cagey. He'd get his licks in. Cooney is just such a question mark. Assuming he was all the goods that folks thought up till the Holmes bout, he might stop Botha late. But if he was truly as fragile as he showed the rest of his career, it's a pick'em
Cooney is difficult to gauge. He beat one Ring rated top 10 contender in his life, and that was Norton at #10. Norton was in the last fight of his life, and had looked ordinary since being KO'd by shavers a full 2 years earlier. So we've got that and a decent showing against Holmes to go on. Weaver had an excellent showing against Holmes, taking him deep and threatening him more than Cooney ever did. Witherspoon also had a good showing against Holmes. Snipes had a moment of glory. Holmes didn't knock many higher quality houses down without first having to huff and puff a bit beforehand. He was also very cautious as Cooney's only avenue to winning was to knock him out, especially if it was early. So he played the numbers and dragged him deep when the chances are he could have stopped him sooner. Cooney is completed untested against higher level contenders because he didn't fight any, apart from Spinks and foreman in ill fated returns where he got pole axed. There's the chance he might be exposed, and the chance he might look ok. If Botha could hang in there early he might just find a chance later.
Yeah Botha was pretty tricky, if he had a bit more power I might go with him in this fight but I kind of lean towards Cooney. Excellent points.
I think Botha was a better boxer than Cooney and he was a tough dude to boot. The real problem is that Botha's power was only average and that Cooney was one big dude. This fight may come down to who is better on the night.
Cooney stops Botha in 4 rounds or so. Frans too easy to hit, little power and lacking variety of punches - slapping jab followed by a roundhouse, slapping right hand
Botha got sloppy in the mid rounds against Tyson and Briggs. If he could survive Cooney early, he’d get sloppy in the mid rounds and get taken out.
I'm not sure. The rumours on ESB pre Vitali-Sanders was Sanders stopped Botha multiple times in the amateurs. I can't find records of this and people tell lies, so I'm not sure if it happened or not. Then Sanders got stopped by Moorer, taken out by 1 Tyson punch, decimated by Lennox Lewis. I do question why Cooney was rushed into the Holmes fight too. Ideally you get your fighter a fair few competitive 10-12 rounders in before throwing him in a 15 round HW title fight. Were they seriously worried about his durability and decided to cash out? Either way I think Cooney's athleticism, speed, range and speed detonates Botha out of there
