The Joe Louis that lost to Marciano vs. Gerry Cooney

10 round fight.....with Louis able to hit as hard, or harder than C00ney for short bursts. Louis by surprise early k.o. ; or C00ney by late TKO.

 

I hate to say it but I see cooney stopping Joe. Cooney was kind of a fast starter and can see him hurting Louis early on, but Joe somehow gets through. He manages to get a few good right s in and keeps in the fight, but some where around the 9th cooney catches Joe and Louis is badly hurt. With Joe hurt and dazed the ref steps in.

 

By the time of the Marciano fight, Louis's power had dropped off considerably due to deteriorated reflexes,plus his legs , never the fastest, were more static.I see Cooney breaking Joe down for a stoppage and it might be before the later rounds.Louis was dropped with left hooks by Galento and B Baer.Cooney has a hook that compares very favourably with theirs.

 

Yep it's that old story. A once great legend been beaten by the up and comer. But most of the time the ATG would have destroyed the new guy years previously. A in prime Louis rips cooney in to shreds.

 

That version of Louis Cooney would stop, probably early. Cooney doesn't get the credit he deserve because of his lost to prime L.Holmes but he was a better fighter than given credit for. And if he could've shaken off that lost to Holmes instead of burying his head in the sand and becoming a alcoholic/drug abuser for quite a few yrs after that lost, wouldve won a championship down the line. He had the skill level and was 6'6" A giant compared to Louis. Dynamic power, esp with the left jab and hook. A prime Louis would've had problems with Cooney, a shot ring worn Louis could've been killed.

 

Cooney remains a bit of an enigma to me.

We never saw him in the ring against somebody like Weaver or Page, and that would have answered a lot of questions.

 

I know, it's frustrating to think if after holmes he'd have got back on the horse he could have made a impact in the division. He could have been in there with the bone crushers and weavers of the time. Maybe picked up a belt, even a rematch with Holmes.

 

Cooney's capabilities are unrealized potential. He showed a little bit of what might have been, whilst being built up on names that were way over the hill. He had a lot of power; a fairly good jab and his left-hook to the body was well executed. I can't recall him having a broad armory at his disposal, though and he looked to be a bit weak in the whisker department (?)

Cooney put up a brave performance in defeat, against Holmes but, other than this one bout, we don't really see Cooney perform in a truly world class level scenario. You could take a punt at Cooney having a puncher's chance against most Heavyweights - in the early stages of the fight. However, as he showed against Holmes the quality of his work unraveled, by midway over 15, and he looked sloppy in the second half.

Louis had no legs by the time he met Rocky and Rocky was as hard as a coffin nail. Cooney might well have a had a Norton-OAP-type-bonanza or, in his early enthusiasm, been starched by Louis right.

 

As we all know he was a level below Holmes, but I'd bet even money with a Page, Weaver or Smith.

 

Cooney ko

 

Louis, even at that stage of his career, would be way too much for Gerry to handle.

 

Cooney liked and was very proficient at blasting out guys past their pull date. If it weren't for Uncle Scam sinking his teeth into Louis' corpse, he would have been long retired. He was positively fossilized at this point, a guy with an excellent boxing brain but a body that wouldn't react to its instructions. There wasn't much that Cooney did better than Marciano, but single punch for single punch I would maintain he hit harder. A sad ending would play out.

 

louis be early ko. he still had some serious moves for a few rounds.

 

Cooney, I think would be a much better 12 round fighter as stamina for the later rounds was just not his thing.

Cooney had good ability and great power. His biggest problems were alcohol, being media shy and interoverted, a second tier type of trainer, and bozos for management.

Had his management waited and developed Cooney another year, he might have beaten a declining Holmes.

As it was he won 4-5 rounds, and preformed decently.