Thread: Cooney was NO hype.

... his run up to Holmes in that great showdown was legitimate. In fact, one of the most legitimate run-ups to a title fight from a contender.

The three guys he DESTROYED before he faced Holmes:
Win 25–0 United States Ken Norton TKO 1 (10) 11/05/1981
Win 24–0 United States Ron Lyle KO 1 (10) 24/10/1980
Win 23–0 United States Jimmy Young TKO 4 (10) 25/05/1980

The man was on a tear and wasn't a hype. Considering that they were past their peak, Norton took Holmes to the limit about a year and a half before.

Cooney was a solid fighter, BUT it must be noted that he had never gone past 8 rounds prior to fighting Holmes.....that didn't prepare him properly for a title fight vs Holmes which was set for 15 rounds. How he made it 13 is beyond me.

Solid fighter piss poor management

Originally Posted by El Kabong

Cooney was a solid fighter, BUT it must be noted that he had never gone past 8 rounds prior to fighting Holmes.....that didn't prepare him properly for a title fight vs Holmes which was set for 15 rounds. How he made it 13 is beyond me.

Solid fighter piss poor management

Yup.

He also needed to develop his right cross a bit more. Had he gotten more rounds and developed that right he would have at LEAST lasted 15 vs Holmes. Shame his psyche was shot after Holmes.

Originally Posted by El Kabong

He also needed to develop his right cross a bit more. Had he gotten more rounds and developed that right he would have at LEAST lasted 15 vs Holmes. Shame his psyche was shot after Holmes.

Nice pick up. He was a converted southpaw and his left hook got him to the title but he really had nothing else.

Originally Posted by IamInuit

Originally Posted by El Kabong

He also needed to develop his right cross a bit more. Had he gotten more rounds and developed that right he would have at LEAST lasted 15 vs Holmes. Shame his psyche was shot after Holmes.

Nice pick up. He was a converted southpaw and his left hook got him to the title but he really had nothing else.

But what a left hook he had....just monstrous

Cooney was a solid fighter. He gave Holmes hell. Holmes is a legit top 5 ATG HW. No shame in losing to him.

Wasn't til very recently that I realized Cooney was 6'6"!

No wonder he looked so skinny in there. Packed a punch though. Im surprised he KO'd Ron Lyle in 1 ill have to look that up.

Originally Posted by Hulk

Wasn't til very recently that I realized Cooney was 6'6"!

No wonder he looked so skinny in there. Packed a punch though. Im surprised he KO'd Ron Lyle in 1 ill have to look that up.

Ron Lyle was 41 at the time. Here's Big George taking care of Gerry:

Lyle, Young and Norton were all past their prime when he got a hold of them.

Originally Posted by Beanflicker

Lyle, Young and Norton were all past their prime when he got a hold of them.

True as that is, the heavyweight division of that era was devoid of veteran contenders which is why Larry Holmes personally ruined a bunch of young talent: Witherspoon, Snipes, Williams, Bey, Smith, and Marvis Frazier...all had less than 20 total fights going in to their fights against Holmes.

There was almost nobody for Cooney to fight to prepare him for what Holmes could do. The division is similar these days to how it was then.

Originally Posted by El Kabong

True as that is, the heavyweight division of that era was devoid of veteran contenders which is why Larry Holmes personally ruined a bunch of young talent: Witherspoon, Snipes, Williams, Bey, Smith, and Marvis Frazier...all had less than 20 total fights going in to their fights against Holmes.

There was almost nobody for Cooney to fight to prepare him for what Holmes could do. The division is similar these days to how it was then.

For sure. I don't think Cooney was ducking or dodging anyone. And even if they were washed up, they were still very capable vets.

I have to laugh when people insinuate the white fighters somehow have it easy.

Yeah, a white guy could get a lot of hype, maybe more quickly than a black man, but white fighters have a hard time breaking the "white hype" stigma, where a lot of fans are harder on white guys because they percieve that they've had an easier road. And then of course when they lose, like Morrison and Cooney did, they get buried and shit on a lot more.

Cooney lost to two legit top 5 ATG HWs, and Michael Spinks who was an ATG LHW and gold medalist.

White American heavyweights are specifically targeted as "hype jobs" it happened with Cooney, Morrison, and most recently Mesi. Morrison was different just due to his role in Rocky V but still those guys were solid fighters. I don't think those guys had padded records or anything, they weren't world beaters, but they were good solid heavyweights. Now a guy like Nicolay Valuev, I think HE got the padded record, but that's more due to his promoter.

I still think Cooney could be in the top 3 hardest heavyweight punchers of all time. His style was a bit weird and he rarely landed clean shots but if he did my god it looked like a train had hit the guy.

Big George took left hooks off Tommy Morrison all night but one glancing blow from Cooney had him wobbled. Afterwards George admitted he was hurt. Can't help thinking it was a career ruined by depression and drugs, he could have beaten Spinks if he had just got his shit together.