Was Cooney overtrained for the Holmes fight?

His resume is pretty thin, but he gave ATG Holmes a night's work. For that the man deserves credit.
People have got a title shot with worse records.
Young Norton Lyle , were all past their best, but that's not always apparant until someone blasts them out.
Gerry was steered into position no doubt about that , but the man gave a great account of himself . I don't see what the fuss is about.
He's done good things since for fighters, so every respect to the man.

 

they were past their best, but sill good fighters

 

Plenty of fighters go along with whatever their management gives them. It's kind of the point of having management. Management's job is to get the fights, the fighter's job is to do the fighting. What did Cooney do that is so wrong? Make a lot of money in a relatively low number of fights?

 

THANK YOU!!!!!

 

So....who exactly overrates him? I don’t recall seeing him rated in anyone’s top 30...so most clearly rate him outside of that? I don’t recall him being picked to beat ATG’s in hypothetical H2H’s?

Unless you mean during his era? In which case he is not a lot different from a Jeff Lacy or other unproven fighters with a following

 

unforgivin, are you f-cking kidding me??? a--hole!

 

the hype was actually based on one of the best left hooks in boxing history and a killer instinct in the ring

 

More like badly mismanaged by two dopes, and stuck with a mediocre trainer. I think Cooney's chances would have been better vs. Holmes in 1983, but his management team took the money for the 1982 fight.

The scoring in this fight was not very fair. Cooney maybe won 5 of the 13 rounds. He was competitive with Holmes in his prime and hurt him once with a body shot in the 4th round. The bell rang at a good time for Holmes.

 

Well, Cooney was just 25 years old when the fight happened. Holmes was 32. If Cooney waited until 1984-1985, I think his chances would be much better off as Holmes slowed down around 1984. In 1982 Larry was still in his prime.

Cooney was a tough guy to manage with a fragile psyche for boxing and alcohol problems. He was uncomfortable in the spotlight.

Was Cooney ever in there vs. grade A sparring partners? I read he spared some with Witherspoon.

If I were Cooney's manager, I would have picked Mike Weaver in 1982. Weaver was awful on defense. Cooney might have won Weaver's WBA title. A loss would not be a career killer, as he could always fight two more setups and Holmes would pick him and the $$$ later. And if he wins, the fight with Holmes would have been even bigger.

But like I said Cooney's management was a clown show.

 

I know Malik Dozier was one of his sparring partners, they even fought slightly before the Young fight. I was at that fight and thought Dozier fought much like Young and looked good to me in that fight. But he didn't come out for maybe the sixth or eight rd, I forget, but I was surprised. Maybe the accumulated blows added up and he didn't want any more, IDK, but I thought he did well up to that point. Weaver would have been a great fight for him because Mike was a slow starter.

 

so, its a crime being white

 

LOL, Antifa in da house......full TDS on display

 

Some of the hype was justified. For example Cooney was the golden gloves champion from NY, and scored a huge KO in the amateurs on an all Russia vs. USA heavyweight card in Madison Square Garden. He had the most powerful left hook in the game in the early 1980's. If he was a fraud, he would have been blown out by a prime Larry Holmes.

 

This may sound like an odd question, but are you American? I ask because there's an extra layer of sensitivity that these issues have in the States.