Gerry Cooney vs Gerrie Coetzee

I don't think that Coetzee could establish a controlled boxing tempo against Cooney the way that Holmes did, and in fact this bout is more likely to turn into a slugfest more than anything else.. Coetzee had enough power to stop him, but Cooney was arguably the faster starter, harder hitter, bigger man.. It would also be interesting to see how Coetzee would do against that left hook to the body - something I'm not sure he ever saw before... Coetzee probably had the harder whiskers, but did he ever survive a shot from a man who could punch like Cooney?

I kind of seeing this playing out similar to the way that the Frank Bruno fight did.... The bigger man with the harder punch and faster starting ability ending it early...

Gerry KO Gerrie within 5...

 

For this one, I see Coetzee reverting to Ali (his hero) mode, using his skills and mobility to stay away from Cooney for a few rounds. Coetzee had faster hands and feet, so I feel he would beat Cooney to the punch. Coetzee also showed with Mike Koranicki and Leon Spinks that he was perfectly capable of a fast start.

Coetzee was able to box Thomas to a standstill, and got robbed against Snipes, a competent boxer himself. He was much better over the distance against Chaplin than Page was (both before and after), and he also out boxed Dokes, Randy Stephens and Tillis. For me, Coetzee was too versatile for Cooney to manage effectively. He decisioned Schutte over the 12 round distance, and knocked out Dokes in ten. For once, Gerrie would have a clear cut edge in proven stamina, and he'd use it against an opponent who never won over a distance of more than eight rounds. Gerry couldn't take it on the temple either, making him a more vulnerable target right from the opening bell. Koranicki found out that Coetzee needed just one "bionic" cross to get the job done.

Gerrie did win the big one, when it came right down to it. For all the self doubts and negativity his idiot father Philip saddled him with, he was able to win a number of challenging matches. Lyle, Norton, Denis, and Young are an impressive array of scalps for Gerry on paper, but he never got extended the way Coetzee was with some regularity.

 

The problem with picking Cooney in a fight that went into deeper water, was that we never really saw how he could hanle those circumstances.... He either destroyed all of his foes early, or got beaten by a better man late... That doesn't mean that he wasn't capable of scoring a stoppage a bit later, like say around 8 or 9... It depends on badly busted up Coetzee was to that point and if Cooney could maintain his composure.. Coetzee might have been better than a shot Norton or faded Ron Lyle, but he was no Larry Holmes either, and Cooney was keeping the scoring pretty close up until about the 12th round.... There are some who have speculated that Holmes was carrying him, but I don't buy it.... This was the biggest fight of Larry's career, and he knew from personal experience what a big puncher was capable of doing... I don't think he was about to take any chances..

 

Neither of these guys is exactly a safe bet, but I would be inclined to go with Coetze as the more proven quantity.

 

This topic seems to come up about once a month. I always pick Coetzee, as he is the one who proved he could actually win a big fight or beat a live body; plus he had a much better chin.

 

Exactly, in essense, he was a better fighter than Cooney.

 

I don't think Coetzee was better than Cooney and think Gerrie would have been brutally KO'd within the first two rounds.

 

I keep on shifting my view on the winner of this one. At the moment i'll say Cooney :?

 

Cooney by mid rounds K.O

 

Gerrie was the more proven product, and he would survive some early scary moments by Gerry to take a late round stoppage around the eleventh.

 

Cooney.

 

1976 Pat O'Grady dragged a knocked out Ron Stander back to the dear old USA and spread the word.

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