Who else would have beaten Gerry Cooney in 1982?

Yes Perhaps. Foreman was a great fighter after all. And so was Larry Holmes.

But those contender types who swapped belts around? They were no better than Cooney of 79-82 in my opinion.

 

Btw. Do you think that any version of Norton would be able to Beat prime Cooney? Despite Norton being the much greater fighter i think that Cooney always would.have stylistical advantage and would ko prime Norton. However 75-76 lyle would ko 82 Cooney

 

Norton beat Ali and it doesn’t get much better than that. However, Ken was a nearly man. Although got smoked by hitters I would bet a pretty penny the best version of Ken would beat all of the Alphabet boys in the 1980s Just like Cooney of the 1979-82 vintage.

Tubbs, Page, Dokes, Tate. They would be absolutely no problem to Ken Norton

 

certainly plausible and there are some who have felt the same way. As for Lyle I’m not sure myself. Might have been a great fight when Ron was prime .

 

Peak Norton would beat all those guys just like the'd all beat the sad version Cooney decimated.

 

The sad version Cooney decimated had barely beat Tex Cobb, that is true, but that’s the same for Dokes isn’t it? He barely beat Cobb as well didn’t he?

Page would beat that version. Maybe some would be too lively for that version of Ken, but I don’t know about all of them. I mean, those guys pretty much all lost their next fight after winning a belt. It was like they were never cut out to keep them. It’s almost like they were destined to pass the belt on to the next guy they fought regardless of who it was. I have a strong suspicion Marvis Frazier could have won a belt had he challenged anybody but Larry. That goes for David Bey and Leroy Jones too.

 

Talking about at their best. Entirely possible even that green fast Dokes might beat Norton.

Ken was ordinary at that point.

The 80's top contenders (except Holmes of course) were inconsistent, for sure. They also had solid highs and fought each other on a regular basis.

 

you wouldn’t bet much money on Dokes though would you? He drew with Ocasio when he was green and fast.

ken was, well, shall we say lesser at that point. He did struggle terribly with ledoux and Cobb but he got through them without losing. Ledoux drew with Spinks and took Lyle to a SD. Cobb at least beat Shavers.

hmm I don’t know if that is entirely true. I think Greg Page eventually certainly fought a lot of the names but by 82’ he was like 2-1 with good fighters. I can’t say the Tate and dokes types were “often fighting each other”

 

I am sure that he would but i don' know why marvis did not fight at cruiser. Despite the height, he was not built like his father. He was a good boxer and he should have fought like a boxer and not trying to emulate his father's style

 

Marvis Frazier was almost stopped in two by a fading Tillis.

The odds are the power of Thomas, Witherspoon and Coetzee would get o him and Tubbs would outslick him. Page had the power to hurt him as well.

I know he got by the powerful but slow Bonecrusher in a non title fight. iireally don't think Frazier was good enough to win a title in that era.

 

Yeah I saw that! Round two quick had Marvis in big trouble..but Marvis won the fight. And don’t forget one year Later Tillis nearly beat Mike Tyson too!

 

Cooney is a wretched and abased figure historically...the blame must go solely to this fighter of the 80s...and his inactivity in the 80s...the 23 year year old cooney entered the 1980s and fought....8 times......thats it 8 times..
..he was mismanaged,inactive,didnt have a decent trainer....if he"d carried on after young,lyle,norton...fighting another 10-11 times with these kind of guys...and picking up the wba title along the way over a weaver in dec 1982....than he wouldve clashed with holmes in early 84....when the deteriotion of holmes was just in its infancy. .....

In that time id have seen cooney beat snipes,james tillis,john l gardner, and earnie shavers before his title win...in late 83 he would avoid dokes

That version of cooney is a very capable hw champ

Sadly the spinks off night ..the 1 major off night of his career defines the narrative

 

Greg Page would have beaten Cooney in 1982. He had everything needed, plus had an underrated left hook himself. He had briefly stated in an article how he would beat Gerry if they had fought. Michael Dokes had enough to beat Gerry as well. He had a toughness that Gerry didn't have. I would say James Tillis as well, if he didn't have his allergy problem.