Why didn’t Gerry Cooney build off his 1984 comeback?

Wasn’t Gerry in the deep end of cocaine addiction and alcoholism?

I still wonder how many fights that he canceled due to ‘injury’ were his team knowing he was a mess and trying to keep him from tanking his career in hopes that he’d get the upper hand on his demons and then be able to pick up the gloves and make another run at it.

 

Unfortunately Gerry didn't have the mental strength and makeup to get near what he could have out of his career. One loss in an admittedly enormous fight did him in for life regarding fighting, or getting the best out of himself in the ring. The reason is that Cooney never had the foundation to support his career all the way from a bad childhood to a team that wanted the buck more than what was best for Gerry so you had some serious things conspiring against him.

Cooney was also drinking plenty even as early as Norton and Holmes and it was insane to send him in against a guy of Holmes calibre with more than a year of inactivity. In just over 2 years Cooney had spent less than 4 minutes in the ring fighting. That's terrible management.

Interestingly Cooney said it was after he retired that he learned how to box and added some finesse. He spars heaps.

Cooney's a great guy with his charity work and honesty. The flipside to him not getting heaps out of his career is that he may well be a lot better off health wise right now. The big layoffs and not having near as many fights as a guy with his ability normally would are probably blessings in disguise.

 

If he kept on going, he could have KO'd Tyson somewhere between 86-88

 

Cooney inducted Jersey Joe Walcott into the New Jersey sports hall of Fame. Speaking of which, could JJW at his best overcome Cooney at his best?

 

Excellent point about his management and inactivity

 

Mmm. Let me think about it.

 

I doubt that.

 

To be quite honest, I think that the exposing loss to WBC Champion Larry Holmes on June 11 1982 by TKO 13 took the steam out of Gerry Cooney.

 

Bonecrusher Smith frustrated Tyson with his clinching and mauling tactics to stall Mike. Gerry couldn't clinch to save his life, fatal against Michael Spinks. Nor could Gerry take a shot on the temple, as Holmes revealed. ('He wobbles like a duck.'} Tyson had a MUCH faster and shorter hook. I also think he would have brought his body attack to the fore as he did with Biggs if Gerry's height was any kind of issue. Mike would be too low and defensively elusive for Gerry.

 

Yes. And we have a visual where only the rain kept JJW from knocking out the tall and mobile Ten Hoff. Still, we see JJW doing well on the front foot. We don't have footage of him reaching guys the height of Cooney, but he could and did do it.

JJW was too tricky, too shifty, too unpredictable and had too much two handed punching power for the chinny Gerry to deal with. He was able to deck Louis by getting under him. No problem getting under and around Gerry. Jack Blackburn's first choice as a protégé was JJW, not Louis.

 

Some world class athletes are mentally strong. But Foreman quit for extended periods after losing to Ali (two years}, Young (a decade} and Briggs (permanently}. He took over a year off after Morrison before getting his winning HW Title shot at Moorer, but his one resilient response following a defeat was his uplifting outing against Holyfield.

Monica Seles never recovered after that German SOB stabbed her in the back then got away with EXACTLY what he wanted, so I cannot really blame her for that outrage. But Gerry was another who wasn't resilient after Holmes, probably to a large extent because he was now set for life after that, and in fact he was.

 

Following Holmes, Gerry also realized he just wasn't good enough to ever become a champion. The Assassin, Jinx and Big George in fact ultimately demonstrated in hindsight that he never was close to good enough. He did about as well though as any non champion ever has strictly through boxing income alone. The so-called Wacko Twins, Mike Jones and Dennis Rappaport, ultimately weren't so wacko, as Malcolm Flash Gordon ultimately conceded in a Tonight's Boxing Program headline. They did the job for their charge, and belong in Canastota for what they achieved for Gerry.

I would have liked to see Gerry versus Tex. Gerry couldn't hurt Tex, and couldn't match physical strength with Cobb. At the least, such a rivalry would have extended Gerry and given him some confidence in his stamina heading into Holmes, but his brilliant managers didn't risk it. They knew his limitations I think, and it resulted in a huge financial single event windfall. But Gerry-Tex would've been a good showdown in 1983 and maybe a good rivalry.

 

Great post.