Muhammad Ali Circa 1975 Versus Gerry Cooney Circa 1981 For All The Yen In Japan

The 1975 Muhammad beats Cooney comfortably. Cooney would be gutsy but Ali stops him sometime before the 12th or 13th rounds.

 

I don't think Cooney beats Ali pre-1978.

 

Muhammad Ali laying on the ropes against a devastating body puncher like Cooney would be dangerous, I know Frazier hit Ali alot in the body. But i think Cooney hits harder than Frazier, plus he has size on his side aswell.

I'd favour Muhammad Ali against Cooney by late stoppage but not a massive favourite, Ali was beatable at around this time.

 

I was thinking the same re lying on the ropes. Ali will have to pick his moments very carefully if he even chooses to take the luxury of lying on the ropes at all. Early round Cooney could be so much more precise than Foreman was in Zaire, particularly to the body. Norton doubled Ali up badly with a single shot in 76. Even Shavers gave cause for 77 Ali not to hang on the ropes for too long. I would think Ali might want to keep it safe on the outside, at least until he well and truly softens Cooney up - even then he'd have to wary of single killer body shots. Ali's right had would be a def. weapon of choice. Without any major hiccups, I could also see a later rounds stoppage, perhaps around 10-11.

 

I think the thing is aswell is that Ali had so much experience on his side, where as Cooney had never really been in deep waters before he fought Holmes. Still as i said i still think Cooney would have his moments vs Ali early on, arguably Holmes fought one of the best fights of his entire career vs Cooney and was near his peak. And still despite what people say it certainly wasn't an easy fight for Holmes, Cooney won some rounds made it competitive and lasted until 13th round.

Muhammad Ali wouldn't have the luxury of being anywhere near his peak in this mythical match up, and Ali laying on the ropes against a precise devastating body puncher like Cooney would be dangerous for him. I think Ali would have to be up for this fight and couldn't labour to victory like he did in some of fights towards the end of his career. And remember Holmes certainly didn't go anywhere near the ropes vs Cooney, he kept it in the middle of ring firing off laser like jabs and right hands.

Overall i favour Muhammad Ali by late stoppage because well....its Ali and more often than not he found a way to win against any style even past his peak. But i'm actually one of the people that actually rate Cooney as a pretty good fighter, and i don't think he's very overrated like some people think on this forum. It's just he needed more experience and needed to be tested, before he fought an ATG who was near his peak. It's a shame Cooney didn't get to fight Mike Weaver like he was originally supposed to.

 

Yeah, my view is that second career Ali up to and including the Zaire fight could still get over the top of prime Holmes. So, at least as per that reasoning, a 1975 version of Ali, in ballpark terms, is either barely on par with prime Holmes or actually slightly inferior. So, by extension of that logic, 75 Ali vs 81 Cooney requires the very best possible version of 75 Ali also (just as it required the best version of prime Holmes) to prevail over Cooney - with Ali having to face and avoid the same perils that Holmes pointedly avoided himself. Hope that makes sense.

 

We've had motivators such as $1,000,000,000 and now: ALL the Yen in Japan. "Logic" dictates that our now BIG hypothetical match should be for ALL the tea in China.

 

Cassius Clay against Henry Cooper was knocked down by a left hook by Cooper who was a natural left handed orthodox so at that stage I would say he would have been vunerable the Muhammad Ali who came back years later against another converted orthodox boxer could potentially run in trouble against Gerry Cooney could have problems early on and would be vunerable going toe to toe against Cooney like he did against Joe Frazier in 1971 and 1975 he'd have to be stay on the outside and get a points decision and stay away and wait until Cooney fatigues and then could possibly get a stoppage. I go with Ali but it's not a easy task for him.