When it happened the big Cooney was seen as a legit threat to the smaller Spinks. Looking back on it how highly do you rate this knockout win?
It was a good win.cooney was not in his best personal moment but still was dangerous and a pretty hard puncher
It was a good win but most boxing people know it was cherry picking Cooney like Foreman did when he Cooney was done with the game but liked a payday and hey who knows he might KO Spinks....
It's hard to know exactly how much Cooney had left, what with his near total inactivity, you don't have much to stack up to establish what point he was at in that point of his career...
Nice win. That was a bad cut Spinks had in there. Real bad. But he went into that 5th round and just took Cooney apart. Did he miss a punch? and there's Cooney right in front of him trying to slug away. Lots of fighters go into a shell with a bad cut. He did the opposite & looked like Hagler against Hearns and just went out and got rid of him. Real nice & seldom seen. And it shows why one guy was a champion and the other was not.
I was at that fight & Spinks had a good win....Gerry was past his best but even at his best Gerry was a good offensive fighter,when is reflexes were sharp like in the Jimmy Young,Norton,Lyle fights against older men he looked defensivly sound even against some of the younger guys he fought but once his reflexes slowed a bit he became an easier mark, his offensive game was excellent but Gerry was always a bit shakey legged, I remember him in the amateurs, he was a 6'6 middleweight champ in the golden gloves NY, then he moved up to lightheavyweight and was stopped by Johnny or Eddie Davis (not sure which brother right now) then he moved up to heavyweight (his brother Tom won one yr) I think Cooney had an incredible left hook but his outside the ring escapades hindered his ring longevity. Still a good win for Spinks over the one-armed monster
I don't overly rate it. It might stretch to good. It's probably the worst Cooney we saw and the only loss he seethed over some time later. Style wise he fit Spinks well. I'd say Cooney at his best would still struggle with Spinks in many ways.
he was washed up. but I also think he lacked the real experience to deal with Spinks who fought numerous top fighters. That matters. Cooney after Holmes, did not really keep active consistently to get better.
I did read somewhere or other that Cooney would gag and throw up in sparring at the time because he was drinking heavily. There were stories too that he had something wrong with his rotator cuff. In the Spinks fight he seems to throw his left as a rising punch. Although it didn't last very long, I actually thought Cooney looked better in the George Foreman fight three years later.
This is true .I think cooneys biggest fault was basically going in to hiding after Holmes. He should have eased back in , taking on a few journey s then moving on up higher. Gaining a bit of confidence and keeping up his fitness levels. He perhaps then may have been in line for a crack at a alphabet boy. He'd at least have been better prepared for spinks
It was a very good performance. Cooney was rusty and never that great to begin with, but he was huge and had great power in the left hand. Spinks fought a tactically smart fight. He circled away from Cooney's power and peppered him for a few rounds. Then, he unloaded.
I agree he regressed after the Holmes fight. The blowout of Eddie Gregg was impressive - of course Gregg himself wasn't really top 10 material.