[RING, Oct. 1981] Cooney- Holmes predictions

I stumbled across an article, "19 Experts Try Their Hand at Selecting a Winner, Cooney- Holmes Predictions," a little while back, and I was surprised to see how many experts picked Cooney to knock off Holmes. Here are a few of them:

Gil Clancy: “I like Cooney. He’s too big and punches too hard for Holmes.”

Shelly Finkel: “I think Cooney will win it by knockout within six rounds. Holmes’ legs can’t carry him away from Cooney’s power.”

Marv Albert: “I’ll go with Cooney to TKO Holmes in round six.”

Dan Duva: “…If it happens next year, say, any later than june, I lean toward Cooney if he hasn’t gotten beaten by somebody else.”

Muhammad Ali: “I would bet on Cooney. He may hit Larry so hard he may jar his kinfoks in Africa.”

Several others too: Bruce Trampler, Al Braverman, Bennie Georgino, Syd Martin, and Tony Ayala Sr (though he picked Holmes if the fight went longer than 8 rounds).

 

I like it .

 

The Cooney hype train was out of control.

 

It was a combination of hype and the press underestimating Holmes / not giving him his due.

 

I wasn't buying into the BS. Bet $500 on Larry and earned $375; after all he was favorite, in Vegas and with anyone with a boxing brain.

 

Cooney was the Great White Hope (Hype)

Britain had Frank Bruno. We had Gerry Cooney.

 

Even many of the experts went silly over Cooney. I have a similar list or bigger somewhere and it's insane looking back.

 

Cooney was Holmes toughest fight in that time period and was actually leading on scorecards if not for 15 rounds .

Holmes himself said he would've lost that fight had Cooney had more experience under him.

Are these predictions far fetched? Not really. Historians may want to forget Cooney BC they think it brings down Holmes as an ATG but that's nonsense as is most ATG's they paint as unbeatable which has never been the case not once in HW history.

The closest thing to looking unbeatable was a Mike Tyson UNDER Rooney.....no one else.

 

Cooney was not leading even with the deductions against Holmes.

Historians aren't trying to forget Cooney in order to bring down Holmes. Cooney never beat a top 10 fighter, ever. These are the facts. Historians see it as a good win against a dangerous guy, but one who ultimately didn't get much done. There's every chance guys like Weaver were better wins. Weaver certainly gave Holmes a harder fight.

 

Deep down I think Larry always resented the praise and adulation that Ali got both in and out of the ring and Ali’s prediction certainly wouldn’t have endeared him to Holmes.

 

Ali was a legendary fighter and all, but he was bad at predicting who would win when he wasn't involved, he even thought michael sprinks would beat tyson.

 

Mendoza said it best. Larry was under appreciated and Cooney was hyped and on a roll. The skin color played a factor but ppl love power and size and Cooney had that, blowing past 3 important "name" guys from the preceding era.

 

The difference being, that Frank Bruno won through eventually!

 

The pound for pound poll you posted a couple of weeks ago was even more comical. The "experts" consensus arrived with Cooney polling 8th best fighter in the world across all divisions.
But at least they had Holmes above him.

The most over hyped fighter ever, quite possibly.

 

Yeah, Frank Bruno was Britain’s great white hope.