Gerry Cooney vs Gerrie Coetzee

Look at what 3 years of inactivity did for Willard against Dempsey or what two years did for an aging Holmes against Tyson.. Granted there were other factors and of course Cooney wasn't in the ring with Dempsey or Tyson calibur fighters, but I think the pattern is clear....

Also, Cooney did box well against Foreman in the first round and even the beginning of the second, so he did approach the fight with the right tactic... But having not won a fight in 4 years, taking a beating from spinks and not doing anything in the interim, was not the best way to prepare for facing a huge puncher who was activily fighting on a regular basis.... Also, Michael Moorer was a defending world champ in his prime and fighting a version of Foreman who was nearly 5 years OLDER than the one cooney fought and still got sparked despite having advantages that Cooney didn't...

 

Well, I respect the points you make and the rationale behind them Magoo, and we'll just leave it at that.

 

Thanks and I agree with yours too.

For the record, I don't think any version of Cooney beats Foreman or Holmes... A better prepared Cooney MIGHT have scored an upset KO over Spinks, but we'll never know... He had potential, but his accomplishments were few and left too much to be desired.

 

I think his problem was inactivity, and a rather selective, easy run against the shells of fighters like Norton, Lyle and Young before taking on Holmes. But to back up a bit, the man in my avatar was somewhat unique in that Cooney only stopped him on cuts and never had Jimmy hurt..it's my guess that a prime, interested Young would have had a field day with Cooney..and I can't say the same about Norton, who was always troubled by punchers. I think it was either Cooney himself, or his management that did him wrong in those years before and right after the holmes fight. Sure he had the big left hook and the size advantage but there was something missing with him...something insubstantial that I always noted in his makeup....and I agree with you that Holmes and Foreman both would have have always been beyond his grasp, especially the young George Foreman.

 

Agreed,

Through selective match making and harder work in the field, Cooney might have grabbed a fragment of the belt... Around 1981, his people were campaigning to get him in the ring with Mike Weaver, a fight that I think he could have won, but Somebody said that Bob Arum steered James Tillis into the challenger spot and Cooney was left out of the picture...

 

U can b sure @ whatever u want . I believe he sparred more seriously than what you wrote .

 

Well showing up at a career high weight and hardly showing any interest in the fight was no indication of being well prepared... Just going by what's in front of me.

 

There r 2 kind of preparations that i know of :
1) physical training/conditioning
2) technical training which is mainly sparing

So maybe Cooney slacked in d physical aspect , or maybe he simply kept eating **** like n idiot , anyway he was somewhat heavier and fatter than b4 , it doesn't mean he didn't spar . And when 1 spars then he's supposed 2 know how 2 fight , at least compared 2 himself .
I don't even think that he fought worse than himself vs Spinks , it was just that he never fought any1 dangerous and that includes Spinks , Holmes and even Foreman 2 extent , and i mean d foreman that he fought & only 2 extent .
Cooney never fought a serious HW , even in his defeats .
Ken Norton , Carl Williams & Tim Witherspoon would have always been big problems 4 holmes because d only thing that made him special was his commitment 2d sport and his avoiding of crack , but no talent , and less than basic skill , he also had protective refereeing 2 cover 4 his fouling which covered 4 his lack of skill and protective matchmaking at least as long as he "reigned" .
Yes , i've seen him fight 2 many times , it was always horrible .

 

Yeah, Cooney's team might have been a bit more selective...in a smarter way for sure. Targeting Weaver instead of Holmes..I agree with that.

 

your posts are some of most well thought out and articulate I've so far seen in the near 5 years i've been here... have you ever considered moderating?

 

Well I've always favored the Boksberg Bomber over Cooney so i loose nothing.
If Larry Holmes could floor Cooney with right to the forehead Coetzee would annihilate him early much like he did to Leon Spinks.

 

I have my meter on.