Gerry Cooney vs Ingemar Johannson

If you're going to make a reference to a single knockdown caused by a right hand, then you should also touch upon Johansson getting KO'd by the left - Cooney's best punch btw.

 

you're creditng Ingo as having sharper landing ability with the right than Larry Holmes and Michael Spinks who were all time greats, but claiming that Cooney couldn't land the left the way that Floyd could on the basis that he wasn't an all time great like Floyd. This is contradictive thinking. Furthermore, it wasn't JUST the right hand that Holmes beat Cooney with.. He also broke him down with one of the very best left jabs of all time, a solid uppercut, good footwork and long term stamina over many rounds, yet still took his fair share of lumps. Johansson had no where near this much to offer... The Spinks fight happened after Cooney's career had long diminished and Ingemar was not the fighter that Spinks was anyway. I also think its speculative that Ingo lost to Floyd because he was "full of himself", when in fact, I think its more likely that Paterson was the one who was complacent in the first fight, given that he came back to beat him twice.

 

" harder hitting" and more skilled at "landing" are two totally different things.. And while Spinks may have been out of his natural weight class, he was also fighting a faded Cooney who hardly looked as though he even trained for that fight.

 

Perhaps.. But Holmes and Spinks were both right handed fighters and both very effective at landing that punch.. Furthermore, it wasn't JUST right hands that scored the wins over Cooney.. It took combinations of jabs, upper cuts, crosses, footwork and even taking a big shot here and there themselves to pull it off.. Ingo was simply not that well rounded.

You do realize that if Cooney fought Johansson, the size difference would be even greater than it was against Spinks who stood 6'3", and weighed 208 lbs? Johansson was around 6'0" and his best weight was probably in the vicinity of 198, and spent the bulk of his career fighting men who were either the same or smaller.

When Cooney stepped in the ring with Michael Spinks in June of 1987, he had been off for 17 months, and had only seen one round of boxing action within three years. He was in horrible shape at 238, had been doing a fair amount of drinking over the years and was quite possibly ruined by the Holmes loss.. He was so off balance and unfocussed that I don't think it would have taken much for most of the existing top 20 heavyweights of the time to hurt or outclass him.

Neither Larry Holmes nor Jimmy Young could keep Cooney at a comfortable range, as he was able to both land on and hurt both of those guys. The difference being, that they had better boxing skills and proven chins.

 

So you think one punch is all it will take? He had to floor a 182 lbs heavyweight who was known for getting decked regulary 7 times before finally finishing him.. What if Cooney connects first? was Johansson known for having a clad iron chin? He was twice KO'd inside of 6 rounds by a cruiserweight sized fighter, whereas Cooney was at least stopped on his feet by Holmes and Spinks. Ingo was not a very skilled heavyweight either.

of course he wasn't.. When exactly did you think we'd place him against Johansson?

Always? And who were these "bigger" guys he faced?

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So because you think that Johansson was a stronger man than Spinks that this solves the whole equation?

neither did Johansson.. The only time his chin was tested, was against a 182 lbs fighter who KO'd him twice.. Cooney at least finished on his feet in his losses to Holmes and Spinks who were better fighters..

You ignored my comments about his being inactive and deconditioned. when was Johansson ever in this kind of situation and who was it against?

Way past it? He was barely 31 years old, inbetween winning streaks, and still a good 8 years away from the end of his career.

So a cut caused by a punch doesn't count in your book?