Round 3 of Holyfield - Cooper, 1992, best HW round of the 90's?

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by ChrisPontius, Dec 26, 2008.


  1. ChrisPontius

    ChrisPontius March 8th, 1971 Full Member

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    I think it's on par with round 10 of Holyfield-Bowe I.
     
  2. My dinner with Conteh

    My dinner with Conteh Tending Bepi Ros' grave again Full Member

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    I preferred Round 1 of Moorer-Cooper most probably.
     
  3. True Writer

    True Writer Active Member Full Member

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    Great round but I'd pick Holyfield Vs Bowe 1 round 10.
     
  4. salsanchezfan

    salsanchezfan Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    ...............Yes, definitely; I thought it was better than round 10 of his fight with Bowe. To see Cooper take those uppercuts like that and come back.......amazing.

    I think there was something to the idea that Holyfield had overtrained and was flat. It showed. Cooper was a replacement for a replacement, after all. Had to keep one's focus and original timetable with all those changes.
     
  5. zadfrak

    zadfrak Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    I'm not convinced of that. I think--like Gil Clancy mentioned during the bout--Cooper had a sneaky right hand and Evander is a guy that gets hit in there.

    And Cooper was named as a replacement but was hardly considered a top notch heavyweight at that time. His form going into the bout was bad losses to Bowe/Foreman/Williams/and even some bad losses to other guys like Bigfoot Martin & that big loss to Nate Miller as well. So it wasn't exactly a Godzilla type guy Evander met as a substitute. His biggest heavyweight victory was probably DeWitt.
     
  6. Mike T

    Mike T Well-Known Member Full Member

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    Cooper could really crack. I remember just hearing those punches.
     
  7. ChrisPontius

    ChrisPontius March 8th, 1971 Full Member

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    I don't think he was overtrained. Maybe mentally he got a bit jaded and was overconfident as a consequence, but his conditioning looked fine to me. I don't have punch stats (Damond?), but i think he averaged over 50 a round, most of them powershots.

    He simply got tagged by a great shot against a heavyweight who could punch, and that's all there is to it. He was in the process of throwing an uppercut while he caught it and those are always the ones that put you out (see Ali-Frazier I, Jackson-Graham, etc).
     
  8. flamengo

    flamengo Coool as a Cucumber. Full Member

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    Didnt Cooper admit to being coc'ed to the hilt during that fight????
     
  9. Russell

    Russell Loyal Member Full Member

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    :lol:

    Before the fight. He supposedly tried to run a mile shortly before the fight and couldn't do it.

    Now against Foreman he had been on a 48 hour women and coke binge and had gotten like an hour of sleep in that time. :admin
     
  10. salsanchezfan

    salsanchezfan Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    ...............I wasn't actually referring to his reaction to being hit or the fact that he got hit, rather that the kind of power shots he landed on Cooper should have sent his head into orbit, but he stood his ground; that, and that Holyfield seemed to gas a bit at points.

    It's just guesswork on my part. When motivated, Cooper proved he could hang in there with a good puncher, a'la Mercer.
     
  11. Bigcat

    Bigcat Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    Cooper v Mercer
    Cooper v Holyfield
    Cooper v Moorer

    Bowe v Holyfield 1
    Holyfield v Mercer

    All very good competetive fights.. some of the best i have ever seen...
     
  12. Russell

    Russell Loyal Member Full Member

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    This fight really gives weight to Oliver McCall's claim that no one ever hit him as hard as Cooper.

    You can argue that Cooper affected Holyfield (A far better version of Holyfield) more then Mike Tyson could in two seperate fights.
     
  13. dmille

    dmille We knew, about Tszyu, before you. Full Member

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    Round 2 Alex Stewart vs Ezra Sellars
     
  14. mr. magoo

    mr. magoo VIP Member Full Member

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    The fight itself was an entertaining affair, especially given that Cooper was a replacement
     
  15. ChrisPontius

    ChrisPontius March 8th, 1971 Full Member

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    Despite popular opinion, i thought Holyfield gave a very good performance. Okay, his power may have been lacking, but his stamina was good, he didn't play safe but really gave it all to put Cooper away in a spectacular fight, and that it was. The left hook / right uppercut combination worked beautiful.

    He got hurt, but limited, big heavyweights who carry a huge punch and go for broke have always been dangerous fights. Galento vs Louis, Briggs vs Lennox, Shavers vs Holmes, etc etc.