Would Max Baer give Larry Holmes a tougher Fight than Cooney ?

The funny thing is Cooney actually put up a decent fight considering he was really to ready for that sort of challenge and even then he was pretty inactive going into the bout .. Cooney's people wanted an attraction instead of a fighter and after his win over Young that is how they promoted him .. the thing is the first incarnation of Cooney was a pretty decent and dangerous guy but he stopped progressing .. he didn't have a great chin but it was ok .. at his size with his over all skills and power he could have been a lot better than a Morrison in my opinion for sure ..

 

he'd be more spirited for sure. and tel better gags post fight.

Baer was better than Cooney

 

A classic skillful boxer vs crude slugger type of martch, i think this fight would be kinda boring though since both had great chins and wouldnt be able to knock each other out due to holmes is hard to hit, baer is inacurate, holmes doesnt have the power to k.o. baer, but i expect Larry to win by u.d. he would stick and move, Baer would hardly land anything if at all and the fight would end with neither men hurt.

But yes if Baer did come to destroy like he did against carnera and schmeling then he would be a tougher opponent than Cooney, holmes won't be able to knock out Baer, max's chin was iron and he had incredible stamina to boot. Plus his signature overhand wouldn' land as often as Cooneys hook but if it did it would deal alot more damage.

 

Ray Arcel was in Holmes`s corner that night. After the fight he looked over to Cooney`s corner and thought to himself that Cooney was going to comeback fight Holmes again and win the title. The Dean was impressed by what Gerry did show that night.

 

Given the stage of his career and how he'd been managed he went ok for sure.

It has to be said that Larry fought an extremely cautious fight based around giving Cooney as little chance as possible via his big power. He'd even been working on the placement of his elbows around the area of the body Cooney like to attack, may have been with a karate expert from memory. Not many know this.

I think without the hype and being white etc Larry would have went harder and possibly finished him when he was dropped in that early round.

I do think tho if Cooney had the heart and love for boxing he would have developed and fit in well (around the top) in that era among so many hot and cold performers.

 

It was his first taste of defeat and it came on the biggest stage possible. I think the whole white hype thing stuck to him the wrong way. He allowed it to by not really showing us he had more to offer. Self fulfilling prophecy.

 

on the original question, while I think by far the most likely result of a Holmes-Baer fight is Holmes winning a decision by a mile, or Baer being stopped on cuts, Baer would in my opinion probably have a better chance than Cooney at getting to Holmes because of his overhead right, the punch which gave Holmes trouble. Cooney was more of a left-hooker. Holmes saw lefts coming. He was sometimes caught with rights he didn't see.

 

I hear you. The sheer magnitude of the event and all the various forms of pressure he felt to win certainly wouldn't have helped.

 

Larry was a boxer who tended to take fighters into the mid to late rounds and then chop them up .. he dissected guys , didn't really go to blow them out early .. plus at that time Cooney was an unknown commodity and a puncher so I have no problem with his strategy .. Cooney just made too much money too fast and lost his youth to drugs and injuries ..

 

He would do better, maybe drop Holmes once, but he would still lose on points probably. Holmes is a clear favorite here.

I just don't think you can stop Holmes, and Baer's work man style of earning decisions won't be enough.

 

I have no problem with the strategy either, just saying i think Cooney would have been finished earlier otherwise. Larry wanted to win so bad he even held back when Cooney was hurt just to deplete his chances of a lucky punch that bit more.

 

I think Larry was shocked when Gerry went down .. he may have been able to but he also could have been nailed .. who knows ? IT turned out ok ..

 

That's basically what i am saying. Cooney really had one thing and that was power. Holmes was super respectful of that aspect.

 

Cooney was a boogeyman of sorts. He made an impression on Foreman as one of the hardest hitters he faced.
But Max Baer was of championship class. Not alphabet title class, lineal title class. A better fighter, with more dynamic explosiveness, and range of skill and mechanics.

Wilder displayed the importance of mechanics against Stivern. With his hands to his side, standing still, he was able to not only control the fight, but to lay Stivern on the canvas for a second time. Baer was made of this cloth, similar size, but in a different body type. Great dynamic power. He tipped Carnera's huge frame over like a fallen pillar with the third punch in a combo. He had spurts of explosive footwork too. He could be mobile when he wanted, jabbing on the outside, slipping, countering, using clever boxing.

I think Holmes would UD him with his IQ and powerful jab. But Baer would do better than Cooney and could even win.

 

I thunk Larry would dice Baer up but if Max was high motivated between his size, reach, chin and power he would certainly be dangerous ..