If Cooney beats Spinks...

If Cooney had beaten Spinks..and it's also hard for me to envision that owing to the way that Spinks so mercilessly thrashed him...then he would go on and fight Tyson. Cooney's inherent weaknesses would have been glaringly exposed in that fight and Tyson would have embalmed him in 1 or 2 rounds.

 

The best that can be said, is that it would have been a nice paycheck for Gerry.. But that's about it.. With a win over Spinks and a loss to Tyson instead, he'd retire with an overrall record of 29-2-0-25, and with both of his losses coming to all time great heavyweight champions in their primes.. Adding Spinks to his win column and the claim to championship lineage would also boost his legacy. I also suspect that gaining such a big payday might eliminate the inclination to come out and fight Foreman later.

 

Spinks must known Cooney was pretty much finished.

On paper, a 6'5", 230 lb Cooney...even at an older age....should have been very competitive against a blown up lightheavy, who had to "box" to beat lightheavy Dwight Qawi.

 

Cooney just sucked vs Spinks...it was a real low considering his size and vaunted power....he just suck in an embarrassing sort of way.

 

Despite what is often said about Cooney, i liked him, i thought he was a good fighter with real champion potential. I think he just lost heart for the sport right around the time he lost to Holmes. There was something distinctly off about him that night imo. Anyhow, i don't see him really ever beating Michael Spinks. Although maybe the Cooney of 79/80 has a shot. If by some off chance he did manage to beat Spinks, he would've got absolutely destroyed by Tyson in 88.

 

I don't give such questions much thought unless they were either likley or close to happening.

 

On paper it would have seemed at the time that Gerry Cooney was a legitimate threat to Michael Spinks.. Hard puncher, Big guy, gave a good fight to a prime Holmes, etc..etc.. But the reality was pretty well hidden from people beneath the surface.. Gerry hadn't fought in over a year and had only appeared once in close to three years.. He hadn't been tested in forever and showed up to the fight weighing a career high 238 lbs. From the looks in his eyes it was clear that he wasn't focused and in truth, had been drinking and lounging around for some time in his private life. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Cooney answered his front door in his bath robe accepting that challenge as nothing more than a fast payday.. I don't think anyone ( including Cooney or his people, or Spink's ) had any intention of him winning that match.

 

tyson would respect the power of a peak motivated 80-82 cooney, i pick tyson to win, he had the better defence, better speed and he had the better chin, but if cooney lands a good left hook in this chin.. tyson would have been in serious problems

 

He wouldn't land on a youthful Tyson. He didn't jab and he threw an oddball right hand. And Cooney leaned into punches and Tyson eats those guys up. Cooney lasts about as long as Etienne, another guy that leaned in and stood in front of you. Once hit and hurt, what bag of tricks does Gentleman Gerry turn to?


The big thing is, DKP would have built the bout up to super proportions--look what he did for the Spinks/Tyson fight. A big win by Cooney would have seen a highly promoted and hyped fight between heavyweight hitters.

 

An emphatic "yes" to both questions IMO.

 

Cooney's a good fighter with elite power (according to George Foreman, at least). However, He has enough flaws where any of the greats beat him every time.

 

It would have been a big fight, but Mike would have destroyed Cooney in a few rounds. It would be interesting seeing Cooney crank up that left hook on Mike, yet I don't see him landing it clean except maybe to the top of Mike's head like he hit George with,and once Larry missed with the left, Mike would go to the body and drive Gerry to the ropes. A lot of people think that fight with Spinks was a fluke and that Gerry was washed up, but Michael used his defense to make Gerry miss and then when Gerry got a little tired Michael came on and landed right hand after right hand and chopped him down. Very similar to the Larry Holmes knockout, yet I forget if Victor Valle was in Cooney's corner in the Spinks fight.

 

I agree. I remember there was a point when Spinks landed a right and Gerry was rocked big time, and Spinks just chopped him down. To see Spinks who was once a lightheavyweight knock down Cooney was surprising a little. In those days a light heavyweight moving to heavyweight was not supposed to be successful, and the heayweights were starting to get bigger like Holmes,Cooney,Witherspoon. etc. One guy I always thought would give Spinks problems with style was Dokes. Dokes was never the fighter Spinks was, but his hand speed was quick and he could punch in spurts and he was physically strong-underrated. Spinks would not have landed that right hand on Dokes the way he did on Cooney. Once he started to land that right hand on Cooney, Spinks couldn't miss.

 

do the last question. No Cooney vs. Tyson would not be as big as Spinks/Tyson. Spinks was undefeated. I remember one thing. They showed the Spinks vs. Cooney on the same night as Tyson vs. Pinklon Thomas I think.. It was on ABC at night prime time. And Spinks stood next to Tyson and I was shocked how much taller Spinks was than Tyson, yet he looked so lean. That always happens. Fighters standing side by side can have a big height difference, and then in the ring they fight and bend to face their opponent and you don't see the height as much.