Mike Weaver vs Bert Cooper now on Youtube

[Tuan_Jim]

This fight didn't get much coverage at the time and I've often wondered how Bert Cooper managed to lose to a 41 year old, semi-retired Mike Weaver in China. Fortunately the fight has finally surfaced on YouTube, and the answer is, basically, he didn't train at all.

Link here if you're interested.

[bwu]

Is that the late, infamous Rick Parker in the ring before and after the hostilities?

Great find, BTW. Thanks. Always had a soft spot for Weaver.

[Nile4000]

People sleep on Mike. Very good fighter when he was a champion and probably a year before. But politics ruined what could have been a very good championship reign.

[Tuan_Jim]

That is indeed Rick Parker, not long for this world

[Tuan_Jim]

People sleep on Mike. Very good fighter when he was a champion and probably a year before. But politics ruined what could have been a very good championship reign.

I'm a Weaver fan but a shot 41 year old version of him should not be beating a 29 year old Cooper, just after he floored Holyfield and Moorer.

[Nile4000]

People sleep on Mike. Very good fighter when he was a champion and probably a year before. But politics ruined what could have been a very good championship reign.

I'm a Weaver fan but a shot 41 year old version of him should not be beating a 29 year old Cooper, just after he floored Holyfield and Moorer.

You have a point there.

[f read]

Bert Cooper declined. The word was he had substance problems which derailed his career. He almost shocked the world when he stunned Holyfield. Good win for Mike Weaver. You could never count Weaver out he knocked out Carl The Truth Williams in 2 rounds and gave Holmes a scare. He was another fighter that was better than his record would indicate.

[hhaehre]

People sleep on Mike. Very good fighter when he was a champion and probably a year before. But politics ruined what could have been a very good championship reign.

I'm a Weaver fan but a shot 41 year old version of him should not be beating a 29 year old Cooper, just after he floored Holyfield and Moorer.

You have a point there.

I remember being surprised by the result at the time, but Cooper was a drug addict so his performances were all over the place.

[Nile4000]

I'm a Weaver fan but a shot 41 year old version of him should not be beating a 29 year old Cooper, just after he floored Holyfield and Moorer.

You have a point there.

I remember being surprised by the result at the time, but Cooper was a drug addict so his performances were all over the place.

Truthfully, Cooper could have been heavyweight champ. Shame he wasn't around the right people. Him and Tyson is a great matchup for 2 or 3 rounds.

[Caractacus]

Joe Frazier had trained Bert Cooper at the beginning of his career,
but Frazier walked away from him at some point because of Cooper's constant drug useage.

[Nile4000]

Yeah, that will do it.

[Ambling Alp II]

Something funny that Cooper said after the Holyfield has always cracked me up. The fight was on HBO, where most of the big fights wee on. Previously Cooper had fights on ESPN which almost always had crappy fights.

In the post fight interview, he said something like "no more ESPN fights for me".
He thought that he was now in the big time. Of course he later fought on ESPN again.

[cannonball]

I actually watched this a couple of days ago. I scored 97 - 94 Weaver in what was a pretty uneventful fight. Cooper had a few moments but couldn't sustain anything and Weaver pulled away from round 7, just doing enough. As said, a decent win for Weaver at the time as he was 40 to Bert's 27 . Both weighed in at 214lbs which was decent weights for both but only Weaver had any sort of stamina.....
Probably Weaver's last significant win and pretty much all downhill for Cooper from here, with the exception of highlight reel KO's over 18-0 (BUT VERY CAREFULLY MATCHED) Richie Melito and "bareknuckle legend" Joe Savage, who i met once whilst working the doors in the west midlands, uk. Nice guy.

[Tuan_Jim]

I actually watched this a couple of days ago. I scored 97 - 94 Weaver in what was a pretty uneventful fight. Cooper had a few moments but couldn't sustain anything and Weaver pulled away from round 7, just doing enough. As said, a decent win for Weaver at the time as he was 40 to Bert's 27 . Both weighed in at 214lbs which was decent weights for both but only Weaver had any sort of stamina.....
Probably Weaver's last significant win and pretty much all downhill for Cooper from here, with the exception of highlight reel KO's over 18-0 (BUT VERY CAREFULLY MATCHED) Richie Melito and "bareknuckle legend" Joe Savage, who i met once whilst working the doors in the west midlands, uk. Nice guy.

I think those scales over in Beijing were on the blink. Cooper 214? Ridiculous.

I feel you should elaborate on your encounter with Savage.

[cannonball]

I actually watched this a couple of days ago. I scored 97 - 94 Weaver in what was a pretty uneventful fight. Cooper had a few moments but couldn't sustain anything and Weaver pulled away from round 7, just doing enough. As said, a decent win for Weaver at the time as he was 40 to Bert's 27 . Both weighed in at 214lbs which was decent weights for both but only Weaver had any sort of stamina.....
Probably Weaver's last significant win and pretty much all downhill for Cooper from here, with the exception of highlight reel KO's over 18-0 (BUT VERY CAREFULLY MATCHED) Richie Melito and "bareknuckle legend" Joe Savage, who i met once whilst working the doors in the west midlands, uk. Nice guy.

I think those scales over in Beijing were on the blink. Cooper 214? Ridiculous.

I feel you should elaborate on your encounter with Savage.

Perhaps you are right regarding the scales - in his previous fight against Rocky Pepeli Cooper was 16st 8lbs and in his next fight after Weaver (Derek Williams) he was 16st 6lbs and never weighed under 16st for the rest of his career.

As to my meeting with Joe Savage, as i said, i used to work a few doors back in the 90s/2000s. I was aware of Joe due to the "Peoples Choice One Night HW Tournament" back in 1993 which was to feature the likes of Cooper, Tony Tubbs, Bonecrusher, Tyrell Biggs etc etc. There was an article in KO Magazine about it and a small write up on Joe Savage. I'd never heard of him (Joe is from Wednesbury in the West Mids, I have relatives in that area so quite local-ish to me) and i guess he was in the tourney as a bit of a novelty. As it turned out he never appeared, officially due to a hand injury.
Anyway, this particular evening i was at work and there was Joe Savage and a couple of mates in the club so I went over and started chatting. I remember he said he wasnt a drinker or a smoker and he was on the diet coke if i remember correctly. Nice, soft spoken chap with huge hands. I asked him about his one pro fight - against Bert Cooper (in canada if i recall) and not surprisingly he got starched in a round - no disgrace tbf. He told me he had 2 more fights in the US but they not on boxrec so i guess they were either unlicensed or didnt occur. He was retired from the bareknuckle game by this point and has a scrap yard locally i seem to recall. As i say, nice guy, happy to chat and a pity this was before the days of camera phones. Whilst he was no threat to the likes of Cooper et al i imagine he would have been a handful on the car park but as he said to me that night "I only fight for money". Not much of a story really but there you have it. I worked with a few ex pros - Gus Mendes, Robert Wright, Adam Cale, all good guys with no attitude whatsoever. Happy days

[Tuan_Jim]

I actually watched this a couple of days ago. I scored 97 - 94 Weaver in what was a pretty uneventful fight. Cooper had a few moments but couldn't sustain anything and Weaver pulled away from round 7, just doing enough. As said, a decent win for Weaver at the time as he was 40 to Bert's 27 . Both weighed in at 214lbs which was decent weights for both but only Weaver had any sort of stamina.....
Probably Weaver's last significant win and pretty much all downhill for Cooper from here, with the exception of highlight reel KO's over 18-0 (BUT VERY CAREFULLY MATCHED) Richie Melito and "bareknuckle legend" Joe Savage, who i met once whilst working the doors in the west midlands, uk. Nice guy.

I think those scales over in Beijing were on the blink. Cooper 214? Ridiculous.

I feel you should elaborate on your encounter with Savage.

Perhaps you are right regarding the scales - in his previous fight against Rocky Pepeli Cooper was 16st 8lbs and in his next fight after Weaver (Derek Williams) he was 16st 6lbs and never weighed under 16st for the rest of his career.

As to my meeting with Joe Savage, as i said, i used to work a few doors back in the 90s/2000s. I was aware of Joe due to the "Peoples Choice One Night HW Tournament" back in 1993 which was to feature the likes of Cooper, Tony Tubbs, Bonecrusher, Tyrell Biggs etc etc. There was an article in KO Magazine about it and a small write up on Joe Savage. I'd never heard of him (Joe is from Wednesbury in the West Mids, I have relatives in that area so quite local-ish to me) and i guess he was in the tourney as a bit of a novelty. As it turned out he never appeared, officially due to a hand injury.
Anyway, this particular evening i was at work and there was Joe Savage and a couple of mates in the club so I went over and started chatting. I remember he said he wasnt a drinker or a smoker and he was on the diet coke if i remember correctly. Nice, soft spoken chap with huge hands. I asked him about his one pro fight - against Bert Cooper (in canada if i recall) and not surprisingly he got starched in a round - no disgrace tbf. He told me he had 2 more fights in the US but they not on boxrec so i guess they were either unlicensed or didnt occur. He was retired from the bareknuckle game by this point and has a scrap yard locally i seem to recall. As i say, nice guy, happy to chat and a pity this was before the days of camera phones. Whilst he was no threat to the likes of Cooper et al i imagine he would have been a handful on the car park but as he said to me that night "I only fight for money". Not much of a story really but there you have it. I worked with a few ex pros - Gus Mendes, Robert Wright, Adam Cale, all good guys with no attitude whatsoever. Happy days

Oh I thought the "nice guy" remark was sarcastic! He actually sounds as if he was a nice guy, although I've heard horror stories about him over the years. You're a brave man bringing up the Bert Cooper fight with him. Did he remember much of what happened?

[cannonball]

I think those scales over in Beijing were on the blink. Cooper 214? Ridiculous.

I feel you should elaborate on your encounter with Savage.

Perhaps you are right regarding the scales - in his previous fight against Rocky Pepeli Cooper was 16st 8lbs and in his next fight after Weaver (Derek Williams) he was 16st 6lbs and never weighed under 16st for the rest of his career.

As to my meeting with Joe Savage, as i said, i used to work a few doors back in the 90s/2000s. I was aware of Joe due to the "Peoples Choice One Night HW Tournament" back in 1993 which was to feature the likes of Cooper, Tony Tubbs, Bonecrusher, Tyrell Biggs etc etc. There was an article in KO Magazine about it and a small write up on Joe Savage. I'd never heard of him (Joe is from Wednesbury in the West Mids, I have relatives in that area so quite local-ish to me) and i guess he was in the tourney as a bit of a novelty. As it turned out he never appeared, officially due to a hand injury.
Anyway, this particular evening i was at work and there was Joe Savage and a couple of mates in the club so I went over and started chatting. I remember he said he wasnt a drinker or a smoker and he was on the diet coke if i remember correctly. Nice, soft spoken chap with huge hands. I asked him about his one pro fight - against Bert Cooper (in canada if i recall) and not surprisingly he got starched in a round - no disgrace tbf. He told me he had 2 more fights in the US but they not on boxrec so i guess they were either unlicensed or didnt occur. He was retired from the bareknuckle game by this point and has a scrap yard locally i seem to recall. As i say, nice guy, happy to chat and a pity this was before the days of camera phones. Whilst he was no threat to the likes of Cooper et al i imagine he would have been a handful on the car park but as he said to me that night "I only fight for money". Not much of a story really but there you have it. I worked with a few ex pros - Gus Mendes, Robert Wright, Adam Cale, all good guys with no attitude whatsoever. Happy days

Oh I thought the "nice guy" remark was sarcastic! He actually sounds as if he was a nice guy, although I've heard horror stories about him over the years. You're a brave man bringing up the Bert Cooper fight with him. Did he remember much of what happened?

He was sound mate, no problem at all. Regarding the Cooper fight if i remember he passed it off as "one of them things" that happen in boxing. Not much else to be said about it really - he got walloped by a very dangerous pro and there was nothing to ashamed of in that.
What horror stories have you heard? Tbh, aside from the tourney in 93, the Cooper fight and a 5 minute chat in a noisy niteclub i have seen or heard next to nothing of him. According to boxrec he trains bareknuckle lads and does some bodyguarding but there is very little info as to what he is up to now.

[Controversial]

Cooper always been a favourite of mine. He was notorious for not training and living wild, it does make you wonder how much some fighters would achieve if only they had the right dedication to the sport. Thats often when upsets occur, they train their arse off for one fight, go in with the right attitude and look great but then don't bother in other fights. Frustrating.

[Tuan_Jim]

He was smokin' as NABF cruiser champ, when he appeared to be taking his career seriously, and he splattered a series of challengers in highlight reel fashion. He was also world class when defending his NABF heavy title against Mercer, and obviously when challenging Holyfield and Moorer.

The Moorer fight seems to have been the end of him. He looked dreadful in his next two fights, Jaco and Pepeli, then managed to lose to Weaver's corpse. I wish he had retired after that, because all he did was rack up losses.

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

I actually watched this a couple of days ago. I scored 97 - 94 Weaver in what was a pretty uneventful fight. Cooper had a few moments but couldn't sustain anything and Weaver pulled away from round 7, just doing enough. As said, a decent win for Weaver at the time as he was 40 to Bert's 27 . Both weighed in at 214lbs which was decent weights for both but only Weaver had any sort of stamina.....
Probably Weaver's last significant win and pretty much all downhill for Cooper from here, with the exception of highlight reel KO's over 18-0 (BUT VERY CAREFULLY MATCHED) Richie Melito and "bareknuckle legend" Joe Savage, who i met once whilst working the doors in the west midlands, uk. Nice guy.

- From the 4th round forward, Cooper had Weaver stumbling and on verge of a KO through the rest of the fight. At the introduction, Cooper a massive brute from Hell made Weaver look like a kid. It was an early fight in China and no way Cooper's weight was legit.

Weaver looked like he'd been running 10Ks that were the big fad then that became a settled fundraiser for schools and other non profits often sponsored by big and little biz. Weaver in his 40s had typically lost his former formidable physique that would've had the boxrec kiddies screaming PEDs had they not been in diapers then. He refused to succumb and made himself quite useful in the beginning and in between whenever Cooper gassed trying to KO him. Had the early rounds even, but in the pain test of who you'd rather be during the fight, it was all Cooper, so the cards were rigged in an odd turn about from the two Dokes/Weaver cards Don King used to rob Mike with.

That compelled me to watch Weaver/Holmes for the first time with Weaver coming in as a journeyman having lost by KO 4x, the last being to Duane Bobick where the Bobick bros again had the last laugh on Lar with 2 wins well before Lar ever got crossed up with Weaver. I had Mike ahead at the time of the stoppage, but it was something of a close call for the ref who was near the end of his career, so I ain't gonna grouse about Weaver exposing Lar who was still trim then.

Nascent HBO picked up the fight for $150K after the US networks refused to televise such a miserable Don King mismatch that turned into fight of the year stuff. Fans booed the stoppage and Lar throughout the bout, and they didn't even know who Weaver was until the fight...only in boxing, folks

[geoffreysadao]

It was great that Weaver scored his last big win. He was one of my all-time favorite fighters.