Cooney was NO hype.

[ykdadamaja]

I think European HW's are destroying that white-hype myth. Before then, South African white fighters were giving us something to watch in the days of late-Ali and mid-Holmes.

We forget the rich South African tradition of HW fighters.

[Dia bando]

... 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 hype job he had very little bar a big left hook,! Holmes just toyed with him a lot got
into the big white hope thing,! he just turned out to be the big white dope.