Mercer took massive hooks to the body from Morrison, and merely farted in return. This is a bad match for Gerry, and likely looks much like Mercer-Morrison did. Cooney could win if he boxed for a decision behind his jab, but he'd opt to tee off in this situation from the opening bell, and pay the price well before the rounds added into double digits. When somebody takes the hardest punches of one of the hardest hitters, and responds by coming forward, tear up the scorecards, because nine times out of ten the fight's as good as over. (If Young had shed no blood against Cooney, Gerry would have been in terrible trouble late.)
Agreed. Oliver McCall as well. And Cooney was shook up by a right hand from an old Young. This was a far cry from the 77 version and really had a ton of flat efforts > Wendall Bailey. And Mercer being Mercer, would go out and lose to a lesser fighter within 2 fights. He'd show up out of shape or unfocused & lose. But he'd bring his A game for a Cooney fight because it'd be a big stage and he has to or he loses. Greg Page syndrome. But Mercer is one of those guys that just cannot string together A grade performances. And his B game is a huge drop off and everything becomes a struggle. Too bad Dino Dennis was not the same guy > Foreman loss. The version that fought Foreman would've provided a much much tougher bout & I'm not sure Gerry wins. To me, Cooney was a lot like Holmes--the guys I wanted to see him fight just never took place and it was always somebody else instead. One of the early Dokes bouts like the Gardner//Occasio 2/ or so timeframe, he said he wanted Cooney next. That was the bout he was looking for. I would've liked to have seen that and seen Gerry have to break a good fighter down to win & see how he coped with the other guy's good left hook and set of tools.
