prime gerry cooney vs prime big cat williams

Two evenly matched dangerous heavyweights who both looked good losing by KO against two ATG champions.



who wins this one?


I think a lot of people have decided the big cat fits an ideal of what some historians think the ultimate HW should look like even though his resume is at least as thin or thinner than Cooney.



Yes williams beat terrell that one time but its like when Larry gains and gypsy Daniels knocked out max schmeling before he made it big. Its a big win only in hindsight.

maybe the machen draw shows terrell had big time level credentials but wouldn’t Cooney be capable of drawing with say a berbick or page?

I dont think there is much between cooney or williams stylistically or resume wise.

I am not sure that if they dug up say an old Valdes, old Charles or faded Ingo after the Patterson fights for williams to beat on that he would have made the same impact as cooney if given the chance. That had been tried earlier in his career when Satterfield (who was 1-2 that year) was offered as a stepping stone ending in disaster.

One could argue cooney getting the has beens (norton and co) over than say a machen of his day to draw with flatters gerry somewhat but williams also laboured with frankie daniels, there really were no unique wins for williams over the usual suspects all the other contenders were beating on either.

How ever past it jimmy young was cooney recorded a kind of unique win over him, the lyle and Norton wins together at least provide evidence that he could not have done better against them.

 

cooney 6'5 and 225lb. big left hook. Beat three of Alis toughest 1970s title chalengers.

williams 6'3'' and 215lb. big left hook and muscular. The only fighter in history to beat both a joe louis victim and a george foreman victim.

 

I think it would be a real slugfest while it lasted.

 

Cooney fought at a good pace against Holmes, one judge even had Cooney winning in rounds until the stoppage so theoretically over 12 rounds he would have chosen Cooney over Holmes.

Williams also had Liston worried for a time during both of their fights. Liston was hurt by williams.

cooney missed out on facing the likes of dokes, page, coetzee, weaver, Tate, witherspoon and berbick but did face holmes, foreman and micheal spinks who beat him. his best wins were beating lyle, norton and jimmy young.

in a longer record williams missed out on facing patterson, folley, johansson, valdes, doug jones, frazier, bonavenna quarry and ellis but did face liston and ali who beat him. His best wins was beating ernie terrell and alonzo johnson.

It is a pretty even match up.

 

I think cooney did well against fighters who had already been knocked out before and by the time he made the ratings williams had ALREADY been knocked out before. Prime cooney proved hard for Holmes to knock out and there were fighters williams did not knock out at all that light heavyweights did. stylisticaly both man match up very well, I would say cooney has the edge here, if he outjabbed Holmes for spells and landed three punch combinations He would against williams. Then, williams always has a punchers chance..It is a 50-50.

 

I think that is the argument against Williams also.

I think a lot of people have decided the big cat fits an ideal of what some historians think the ultimate HW should look like even though his resume is at least as thin or thinner than Cooney.


The fact that Cooney repeated the win that shavers achieved to earn his shot at the title does kind of take luster away from Norton being entirely worthy at that time but it does also show gerrys win demanded a shot. williams did not record a win at any time that demanded a shot at a champion. Norton was no longer a genuine threat but anyone who can knock him out in one round was considered to be one. williams landed fights with machen and terrell but did not make that kind of impact.

Yes williams beat terrell that one time but its like when Larry gains and gypsy Daniels knocked out max schmeling before he made it big. Its a big win only in hindsight. maybe the machen draw shows terrell had big time level credentials but wouldn’t Cooney be capable of drawing with say a berbick or page? I dont think there is much between cooney or williams stylistically or resume wise. I just think the impact and demand for cooney on account of his wins over a faded Lyle, young and Norton must tip the balance.

I am not sure that if they dug up say an old Valdes, old Charles or faded Ingo after the Patterson fights for williams to beat on that he would have made the same impact as cooney if given the chance. That had been tried earlier in his career when Satterfield (who was 1-2 that year) was offered as a stepping stone ending in disaster.

One could argue cooney getting the has beens (norton and co) over than say a machen of his day to draw with flatters gerry somewhat but williams also laboured with frankie daniels, there really were no unique wins for williams over the usual suspects all the other contenders were beating on either.
How ever past it young was cooney recorded a kind of unique win over him, the lyle and Norton wins together provide evidence that he could not have done better against them.