Was Cooney overtrained for the Holmes fight?

Yep.

But he could override their decision. Or like lots of other heavies around back then, hired and fired promoter/manager/trainers. I can imagine he would have had the ear of Don King in a nanosecond if he'd made an inquiry. So he did have the chance and opportunity to change his management. He didn't, but he could have.

I think a move to DKP would have helped a ton. I'm not the biggest fan of Don King but there are guys he helped and guys that that would have been nowhere without him at the helm.

 

I don't have heroes. I do have people I consider objectionable and you are one of them ,you stupid ,ignorant, ****!
You'll get yourself banned I don't need to do a thing ,nobody takes your input seriously anyway.

 

Thinking big-picture, who the hell cares if he was guided carefully with the knowledge he was limited? They, like every other boxer out there, did this for a living. If what they did yielded more money for them and their "project" then why would one get so angry about it this many years on? Who the hell cares? Did they steal from YOU to get him that money? Really? No? Then f-ing relax.

Some people here write and behave as if fighters owe them greatness or something. As if because they fell short for some reason they must be properly vilified by armchair warriors who could never dream of doing half as well as them, even with their shortcomings. I'll never understand that mindset.

 

Don’t feed the trolls

 

Some timely, and much needed perspective!

 

drugs and drinking played a part but Gerry had mental limitations from his abusive father, Gerrys brother Tom had a coke problem and I knew Gerry from some of the clubs in NY and he made quite a few trips to the bathroom and was drinking at the bar all night. Gerry may have had a better shot against Weaver because Gerry had the hook but the right hand was Holmes kryptonite. Cooney should have fought a solid chinned guy who was easy to hit like Tex Cobb so he could have fought 10-12 rounds just to know that he could

 

WTF, Y all the hate for Cooney???? It did look to me that he fought older guys past it, but he did good. Then megabucks offer to fight Holmes, WTF would YOU have done in that situation? So, this so called bum, with like three rds in the last three yrs fight the greatest hvy champ of all time and makes a Great account of himself in the fight. I'm sorry he kind of disappeared for long stints after that, I would have loved to see him stay busy and fight the best out there at that time. The guy was visious in the ring, an animal! A lot going for him.

 

Who exactly did Cooney's managers avoid? Weaver, maybe?

 

I would have liked to see him fight Weaver, Dokes and or Page leading up to Holmes...but not sure he really avoided anyone.

 

For all the critique of him, in over his head, outclassed, not ready etc etc, he gave a hell of an account of himself .

 

If he had run through those three guys no one who was sane could ever call him a bum again!

 

You 3 are the mollycoddling syncophants of a cowardly cat who absolutely REFUSED to fight contenders and earn his right to a title shot. THAT IS A FACT. I guess every fighter who truly earns his shot is a fool to you three because he should have taken the primrose path of NO resistance. Your DEFENSE of Cooney says more about you than my obvious distaste for the bum. He stood for everything bad in boxing. Why do you think Holmes has to keep arguing with fans? One set of rules for all the other heavies in the 80s and one set of rules and every excuse allowed for Gerry Cooney. Least the others for all their faults had the balls to fight each other. All you have with Cooney is "If Gerry fought....". Because he never did.

 

But that wasn't going to happen, and most in the know knew it.

 

I really find it hard to believe I am the only one on here who has contempt for Cooney and his NEVER taking credit for his career. I know from first hand experience that prizefighting is a hard game. And to be silver spooned then defended for it is an abhorrent miscarriage of what is right. And wrong.

 

hey, back in the day, I said some of the same things you're saying. But looking back, I'm thinking differently. He had around 20 fights locally against guys most people never heard of, then gets Young, who, by the way I wanted to win. Now, following that his management gets him Norton, then Lyle. Look, Gerry doesn't make the matches, his management does, so don't blame him. If Gerry can give Holmes such a great fight after maybe thee rds in the last two or three yrs, I think he really would have walked through the other contenders if he was fighting every six months like he should have been. He wasn't perfect, but he was a true wrecking machine. He had the ability to beat anyone. I used to think not as good about him, now I think he just dealt with what was handed to him. He did fine and doing even greater things now helping former fighters in trouble.