Heavyweights : Greg Page vs. Gerry Cooney

[Woldemar]

IMO prime to prime Cooney would stop Page in 7-8 rounds.

[oogiebe]

Page was a decent fighter, but he could be gotten to. Cooney would catch him. Mid rounds KO/TKO.

[DrDuke]

Page was a decent fighter, but he could be gotten to. Cooney would catch him. Mid rounds KO/TKO.

I agree. Page would look better, but then Cooney would stop him.

[goose 5]

I don't see Page avoiding Cooney's heavy shots for very long. Cooney by KO

[overhand_right]

Page could really take a whack. I think he's the better catcher, and the more talented boxer. The guy who beat up Gerrie Coetzee and Renaldo Snipes and Quick Tillis would KO Cooney imo.

[cfang]

I'm with page on points here. More talented.

[Nile4000]

Page had stronger boxing ability and he knew early on how to shut down Cooney. A motivated Page kayoes Cooney in the 3rd round. Gerry is not on Greg's level.

[Ambling Alp II]

Motivated being the key. Would pick Page as well, though Cooney would have a serious chance.
Too bad Cooney didn't fight guys like Page, Coetzee, Weaver, Dokes, Witherspoon, Tubbs. Thomas, etc. We would have a much better idea how good he really was.

[Nile4000]

That's true. Jones and Rappaport messed up big time on this one.

[Tony1244]

I'd pick Page. Cooney never won anything that was in the least bit close. Chapman nailed him, but George C. was relatively feather-fisited.

Cooney winning by KO is conceivable, but Page fought and beat the better opposition.

[hhaehre]

That's true. Jones and Rappaport messed up big time on this one.

I don't see how. They got him a fight for the title against the top dog and made him a ton of money. Cooney was an accident waiting to happen and he would never have beaten Holmes no matter how he was brought along. Have him fight either Page, Coetzee, Weaver, Dokes, Witherspoon, Tubbs or Thomas and the chances of a loss is about 50%. Better just take the big fight for all the marbles, at least he always had a punchers chance.

[Flump]

That's true. Jones and Rappaport messed up big time on this one.

From a boxing perspective yes. However Cooney retired in a far better life position than the rest of those names mentioned, bar maybe Coetzee.

[Nile4000]

From a boxing perspective yes. However Cooney retired in a far better life position than the rest of those names mentioned, bar maybe Coetzee.

Good point.

[Nile4000]

I don't see how. They got him a fight for the title against the top dog and made him a ton of money. Cooney was an accident waiting to happen and he would never have beaten Holmes no matter how he was brought along. Have him fight either Page, Coetzee, Weaver, Dokes, Witherspoon, Tubbs or Thomas and the chances of a loss is about 50%. Better just take the big fight for all the marbles, at least he always had a punchers chance.

From a money perspective, yeah, but if Gerry could have won the WBA Championship in 1981( like you said, 50%), and then fought Larry Holmes, it was a win-win. But at least he is still alive and kicking.

[HomicideHenry]

The 80s was a tough time in boxing. So many good/great fighters became victims of their ego & vanity, getting deeply into the party scenes and becoming full blown drug addicts. Cocaine, especially, ruined the likes of Aaron Pryor and heavyweights like Michael Dokes.

Page, is no exception. Alongside the drugs, he was overly sensitive to criticism and would balloon in weight between fights, and oftentimes would show up putting on uninspiring performances. 1982-1986 were pretty low years for Page, despite winning the WBA title in those years. 9 wins & 7 losses in that time period.

Prior to '82 (the year Cooney fought Holmes) Page had beaten LeDoux and the aging Jimmy Young (UD10) when Cooney flattened Young in 4 rounds back in 1980. Ward, Monroe & Evangelista might have been good names to have as wins (at the time) but in retrospect they're nothing special.

More telling is Page's two fights with George Chaplin, both of which were close majority & split decisions. Those happened in 1980 & 1981... Cooney fought Chaplin in 1984, and kayos him in 2 rounds.

If I had to pick a winner, it'd have to be Gerry Cooney. He was a fast starter, and Page was too damn inconsistent to really bet on.

[ClivePatrickLyons]

Page fit outboxes Cooney to win a close majority Dec.

[Nile4000]

If Page is in top shape, and motivated he's beating Gerry, and it won't last to the final fell. Greg had enough juice to do it. And he did want a piece of Cooney, as did Dokes, IIRC.

[overhand_right]

Prior to '82 (the year Cooney fought Holmes) Page had beaten LeDoux and the aging Jimmy Young (UD10) when Cooney flattened Young in 4 rounds back in 1980. Ward, Monroe & Evangelista might have been good names to have as wins (at the time) but in retrospect they're nothing special.

Cooney didn't 'flatten' Jimmy Young, he never even knocked Young off his feet. He beat him on a cut.

More telling is Page's two fights with George Chaplin, both of which were close majority & split decisions. Those happened in 1980 & 1981... Cooney fought Chaplin in 1984, and kayos him in 2 rounds.

More telling is Ali's two fights with Ken Norton, both of which were close majority & split decisions. Those happened in 1973... Foreman fought Norton in 1974, and kayos him in 2 rounds.

[Onetimeonly]

The 80s was a tough time in boxing. So many good/great fighters became victims of their ego & vanity, getting deeply into the party scenes and becoming full blown drug addicts. Cocaine, especially, ruined the likes of Aaron Pryor and heavyweights like Michael Dokes.

Page, is no exception. Alongside the drugs, he was overly sensitive to criticism and would balloon in weight between fights, and oftentimes would show up putting on uninspiring performances. 1982-1986 were pretty low years for Page, despite winning the WBA title in those years. 9 wins & 7 losses in that time period.

Prior to '82 (the year Cooney fought Holmes) Page had beaten LeDoux and the aging Jimmy Young (UD10) when Cooney flattened Young in 4 rounds back in 1980. Ward, Monroe & Evangelista might have been good names to have as wins (at the time) but in retrospect they're nothing special.

More telling is Page's two fights with George Chaplin, both of which were close majority & split decisions. Those happened in 1980 & 1981... Cooney fought Chaplin in 1984, and kayos him in 2 rounds.

If I had to pick a winner, it'd have to be Gerry Cooney. He was a fast starter, and Page was too damn inconsistent to really bet on.

Neither page fight with Chaplin was close. Page clearly lost both. Cooney never floored young much less flattened him. I've never found videos of page/Chaplin, you could easily watch cooneyyoung.

[Onetimeonly]

Oh, put me in the page camp here. He had a great chin, Gerry couldn't produce the bombs he ate from Ruddock.

[HomicideHenry]

NVM.... Cooney was dogshit and Page would annihilate him....

[overhand_right]

Neither page fight with Chaplin was close. Page clearly lost both. Cooney never floored young much less flattened him. I've never found videos of page/Chaplin, you could easily watch cooneyyoung.

The Page/Chaplin bouts were televised, I once had em both! How Page vs a small awkward hard-headed survivor relates to Page vs a 6'7'' offensive-minded puncher I have no idea.

[Nile4000]

The Page/Chaplin bouts were televised, I once had em both! How Page vs a small awkward hard-headed survivor relates to Page vs a 6'7'' offensive-minded puncher I have no idea.

I once had them both as well! And Page did enough to win both, though the second may have been a closer fight than the first.l

[Onetimeonly]

The Page/Chaplin bouts were televised, I once had em both! How Page vs a small awkward hard-headed survivor relates to Page vs a 6'7'' offensive-minded puncher I have no idea.

I know, I watched them live. Never found the tapes. The only reason there was a remath was because of how bad the first decision was, the second one was worse. Obviously no correlation, Henry just peruses records to make any stupid case he feels validates his bias. I just brought it up because he obviously never saw any if the fights like when cooneybflattened young.

[overhand_right]

Cooney "flattening" Young was priceless. Classic Henry.