Cooney was NO hype.

[El Kabong]

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.