Was Cooney overtrained for the Holmes fight?

No he was underschooled.

 

No but he could have been a bit busier leading in. Not that i think it mattered.

 

Cooney fought ony 2 rounds KO1 Lyle 10/24 1980 & Norton 5/11 1981 then fought Holmes 6/11/1982 so in 3 years he fought 2 rounds. Also Cooney never fought past 8 rounds so he was not physically or mentally prepared. Cooneys managers were concerned only about money and they did a great job with that but Gerry was not properly prepared for the titile. Shame because timing is everything

 

How many rounds was he sparring in training, though?

 

No

 

Come to think of it, how would we tell whether Cooney was overtrained?

 

I've never heard anyone say he was overtrained. I do remember hearing him say that he thought it had been a mistake to hold back early the way he did, being a bit worried about the 15-round distance. He said he paced himself slower than normal because of it and regretted it.

 

I doubt if he ever overtrained, the opposite could have been a small factor. The bottom line, though, is that he never developed the skills needed to compete with the best fighters.

 

I doubt whether the amount of training that Cooney put in made any difference. He was simply over his head.

 

Not sure about the overtraining part and haven’t really heard that before. I think if anything he was largely untested, 1 to meet an ATG in Holmes and 2 to fight a 15 rounder.

Not sure any of that would make a difference, but if I was part of team Cooney a 2-3 fight run against a Weaver Dokes or Page type fighter, but Gerry might have made short work of them too?

I think Cooney looked good, against Holmes just not quite up to the task? And perhaps no amount of prep would change that.

 

No, just underprepared.

 

Over trained or under trained, Gerry was one notch below Larry, and would never have beaten him.

 

Very possible and maybe quite likely? But would gaining experience against a couple/few top rated contenders and possibly getting stretched to 12-15 rounds in a fight or 2 have helped or hurt him?

I still don’t think it alters the outcome either, but starching Norton, Lyle and Young didn’t prepare him enough for 13+ rounds with Holmes. I still think he comes up short, but the experience could only benefit him IMO

 

No, he would not have made short work of them.

Too much risk for much less reward.

The Cooney hype was off the charts so he walked into a superfight with Holmes.

A white hope was a huge commodity.