Gerry ****ey vs Evander Holyfield

Agreed, ****ey never beat a top-10 ranked foe leading into Holmes,but nonetheless he was competitive with the BEST heavyweight of that period, a recognized all-time great.

Find me the stone tablet you speak of.

Sufficient response?

 

You know its true:good.

 

I rate Holyfield higher than Kenny Norton. But Gerry DEMOLISHED Ken. Ken and Holyfield have very similar stats physically. Fighting styles are somewhat close as well.

I don't think C00ney is out of this fight at all.

 

C-o-o-n-e-y doesn't stand a chance. Who did he ever beat? Jimmy Young KO4, Ron Lyle KO1, and Ken Norton KO1 were washed up when Gerry fought them. Leroy Boone KO6, John Dino Denis KO3, St Gordon WDQ4... so what? Sure, he gave Holmes a decent fight and he had good power but Holyfield would dominate and then stop him.

 

Ken had glass.

 

It is a sufficient response.

The problem is this.

C00ney never really proved on paper, that he was even one of the best contenders of his era.

He might well have been a lot better than his record suggests, but we have to go with what we know.

You could rationally favor him over Holyfield, but it would require a blinding stylistic argument.

 

I don't think C00ney beats Holyfield ever.

But you guys are off about C00ney and beating contenders. You could look at the WBC ratings in 1980, 1981 and 1982 and find names there that C00ney beat.

Jimmy Young was ranked #6 by the WBC when Gerry C00ney stopped him in 1980.

Ken Norton was also ranked #6 by the WBC when C00ney stopped him in 1981. (Norton was the former WBC champ coming off a win over top-10 rated Tex Cobb.)

In 1980, after drawing with Leon Spinks, Eddie "The Animal" Lopez was rated as high as number five by the WBC in their July 1980 ratings (C00ney beat Lopez the previous year).

That month (July 1980), the WBC ratings included Mercado at number one, C00ney at number two, and with his wins over Young and Lopez, C00ney had more wins over contenders than any other top 10 guy.

In 1982, the month C00ney fought Holmes, the reigning WBC Cruiserweight champ was S.T. Gordon, who C00ney had stopped four years earlier.

When C00ney came back he stopped Eddie Gregg, Gregg was currently rated #3 by the WBC and #9 by the WBA when he got iced in one.

Even Ron Lyle was rated number four by the WBA when he was upset by Lynn Ball at the end of 1979. When C00ney faced Lyle a year later and stopped him, it was about as big a deal as if someone came along right now and stopped Chris Arreola in a round. Arreola isn't ranked right now, but he was last year when Stiverne stopped him.

I'm NOT saying C00ney cleaned out all the contenders or anything like that ... because he didn't. But saying he never beat anyone ranked is frankly not true at all.

You could look at the ratings and say C00ney beat the former WBC champ, the reigning WBC cruiserweight champ, that heavyweight contender, and that contender of there.

It's not like Greg Page and Michael Dokes were cleaning house prior to their title fights, either.

Dokes beat Jimmy Young and and barely edged Tex Cobb (who Norton already beat). Page entered his title fight coming off back to back LOSSES (one being against David Bey) ... to go with an earlier loss to Berbick.

C00ney never fought Dokes and Page, but they didn't fight each other, either.

C00ney was fine. He just wasn't as good as Holmes. Nobody at that time was.

 

This is one of the best styles makes fights threads I have seen.

C00ney Has a real shot at stopping Holyfield, I keep seeing the left hook to the body by the powerful c00ney being a factor. Holy will trade with C00ney, and may get caught in the mid rounds.

Holyfield is in ,or near my top 10, C00ney not even close, but he has a chance to upset the " real deal"

 

Yeah, Holyfield just never fought a guy with a big punch.

Tyson, Bowe I, Cooper, Moorer, Lewis, Stewart, Mercer, Foreman, Rahman,...all these guys just didn't hit hard enough. Styles make fights, ****ey solves the riddle. :nut


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Correct. There were a few of those men who were either ranked by the alphabet organizations or in the ring magazine monthly ratings at the time they met C00ney. Eddie Gregg was ranked too high and didn't deserve such a ranking. Neither did Young who had recent defeats to Ocasio and a prospecting Dokes. But one can't say that he didn't beat ranked opposition.

 

He didn't beat any genuine contenders.

 

I would have to go with Holyfield by a stoppage but Gerry always has a punchers chance, he went to the body great and Evander was slowed down and stopped by Toney with them. I think Evander is a big favorite but ****ey would be alive vs anyone he could hit with that hook.

 

So true.

 

Plenty of fighters have been ranked undeservedly. Norton, Young, and Lyle were washed up and the others were pretenders in the HW division. C o o n e y was tall, and had a long reach. He had some weight because he was so tall but he was lanky and not a super strong man. He did punch hard. It's going to take a lot more than that to upset a prime Holyfield.