Gerry Cooney vs Tyson’s title challengers

Has he beaten anyone as good as Tyrell Biggs

 

Liked Cooney the fighter. Liked Cooney the person. But.....What live body did he beat? I know the alcohol took its toll. But as stated earlier he avoided top contenders that could have improved his game. He obviously fought pretty well against Holmes. He had skills but lacked any type of mental strength to compete against the top 10. He should have broken Spinks in half with the left hook. I think he loses to the majority of these fighters. Anyone with movement is going to give him trouble. With the exception of Foreman. { know he didnt fight Tyson] Cooney might go down as one of the biggest disappointments in boxing history. { Has this thread been done? } Not simply because he was the "white hope" but that he brought energy and excitement to his fights. I do applaud him for his work with retired boxers. The Cooney man is a champion post career. Along with Holmes.....

 

Right.

After Cooney fought Phil Brown and knocked him out in 1984, CBS desperately wanted to sign him. They said next Cooney could fight Greg Page, Michael Dokes, Mitch 'Blood' Green, Tony Tubbs, Tony Tucker, James Broad or Carl 'The Truth" Williams and they'd pay him big bucks and put it on prime time.

He could pick any of them he wanted.

Keep in mind:

* Page had lost his last two fights (to Witherspoon and Bey) but was a few weeks away from winning the WBA heavyweight champion at the time.

* Dokes had a coke problem. Had been knocked out by Coetzee and had just won a comeback decision over Mike Jameison.

* Blood Green had just beaten Sammy Scaff. (Instead of Cooney, Green fought Berbick next and lost a decision.)

* Tubbs had 17 fights and was still fighting the Tom Trimms of the world.

* Tucker was 24-0 and was coming off a 10-round decision over totally done Jimmy Young (who Cooney had stopped years earlier)

* James Broad had lost to Marvis Frazier and had just beaten Eddie Gregg. (Broad would get stopped in two rounds in his next outing by Witherspoon).

* Carl Williams had just been floored twice in the first round by Quick Tillis, but managed to win a decision.

Those were Cooney's options for a big-time next step.

And Cooney and his team turned ALL of them down.

In fact, Cooney's team offered up Mike Jameison (who Dokes had just beaten) next. CBS turned them down. And then Cooney ended up sitting out for a couple more years before coming back later against the guy Broad had stopped (Eddie Gregg).

That's what was so frustrating about that guy.

And that's just one offer. He had his pick of opponents. A lot of those on that CBS list turned up on Tyson's challenger list in the first post. Cooney said no.

Cooney turned them all down.

So threads like this should come with the option of: A "prime" Cooney is offered fights against all Tyson's challengers, and then Cooney calls back and turns down all the offers.

Because that's actually more realistic.

If that option is offered, I'd take that one. (LOL)

 

Dubblechin-------can you think of any other legit HW that avoided big time fights like Cooney. And more importantly----if he had the balls to take on Holmes ----why not others?

 

He beats Smith, maybe the older Holmes, Biggs, Tucker and probably Bruno. Cooney could overpower Spinks in his best form.

Tubbs on a good nite would frustrate Gerry. Pinky Thomas outboxes and stops Cooney. Carl Williams could as well right up to the point Cooney connects with his hook. Berbick outguts Cooney, Douglas outboxes and stops him.

 

Cooney received $10 million to challenge Holmes in 1982.

If I'm not mistaken, no challenger received that much money in the history of boxing to that point.

All of Holmes' title challengers (except Ali who was paid $7 million and Michael Spinks who was paid $1 million) received purses that were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Apparently, Cooney wasn't going to fight anyone of note after that unless he was ridiculously compensated. That was basically it.

 

No.

 

Me too.

Buster Douglas also beats hm - in his 'Tokyo Douglas' alter-ego.

 

Buster Definitely. He'd hammer him with the jab and Ko him.

 

Who did Biggs beat?

 

Greatness. The best post EVER on Cooney's career & legacy.

 

For sure loses to: Tucker, Holmes, and Thomas. Loses to the motivated Douglas that Tyson fought. Probably gets out-boxed by Tubbs. 50/50 fight with Berbick, Biggs, Smith, Williams, and Spinks. Yes, Cooney could stop a few of these guys, but, he might also get stopped by Smith or Bruno. Those two were more dangerous punchers than anybody Cooney beat.

 

The Japanese variant of Buster Douglas would beat Cooney up.

Spinks was already seen beating him. I would take Tucker and possibly Pinky to beat him too.

Bruno is a tough one to call. If Bruno wins it would be a late stoppage after going life and death

 

Beats Berbick
Thomas would outlast him.
Tucker fight looks like the Douglas fight.
Beats up Biggs.
Holmes fight could go either way.
Tubbs fight could go either way. Cooney never actually beat anyone on that level.
Spinks fight not much different than real life.
Starches Bruno.
Starches Williams.
Douglas beats him.

 

In fairness, he showed the the was half decent against Holmes.

The amount of “shot” he was for the Spinks is grossly exaggerated though. He’s treated as if he’s the only fighter in the 80s to have touched a bottle or white line.