Gerry Cooney with Manny Steward as his trainer

Big Dee, sure nice to hear you tap out your love feast of words about Manny pal.

 

Being that Cooney had all the fragility of someone abused by an alcoholic father and boxed out of a convoluted love/hate stance toward Cooney Sr, it's hard to say if any trainer could have changed Cooney's emotional foundation.

My impression is that Cooney was more afraid of winning against Holmes than losing as he knew a win would make him the most popular and scrutinized sports figure in the world in 1982 and the pressure would be off the charts. I thought he did an awfully talented job of proving his toughness and ability against Holmes without ever making a serious effort to win. As he said at the time, he just wanted to prove he "could go the distance"

I came away from that fight with the impression that Larry Holmes was one of the psychologically strongest and most rational/professional fighters ever to lace up gloves. If Cooney would have had half of Holmes' makeup, I suspect history would be dramatically different.