The Fighting Life: Larry Holmes, "Cooney had me hurt, but didn't realize it"

[Seamus]

Good interview. Always thought Holmes mellowed in his old age and became a nice guy, something I didn't think he was during most of his career.

[punchoutsb]

Always felt Cooney wound up extremely underrated.

He was capable and skilled enough to beat Holmes. He didn’t, but he could.

[Seamus]

Cooney never learned to hit a moving target. He did pretty good against Jimmy Young, who was past it, but still had skills.

[Ambling Alp II]

That was interesting. He really did seem to have mellowed out over the years.

[Seamus]

Gerry Cooney was really hyped at the time of that fight, though his punching power was real. Holmes came into the bout thinking "this guy can knock me out, I'm gonna have to be at my best to win". The truth is more that Holmes fought a great fight that night, than Cooney was just overrated.

[Ezzard]

Cooney looked terrific in the fight. He just couldn't defend against the speed of Holmes' right.

He was neck and neck with Holmes until about the 10th then he sort of faded fast.

I think psychologically Holmes showed no vulnerability. Cooney threw a lot of great body shots but nothing seemed to dent Holmes. I think this played a part too.

Gerry was better than a lot of title holders in the 1980s.

[Controversial]

It would've been interesting to see what Cooney could've achieved with the right handling. He went into the Holmes fight only having 2 fights in the previous 18 months that both ended in the first round. Add to that Cooney had never been past 8 rounds in his pro career so was really up against it challenging Holmes.

[margaret thatcher]

i thought quite clearly holmes was hurt by body shots, cooney did respectably despite obviously not being same level, it was his best showing

[Ambling Alp II]

It would've been interesting to see what Cooney could've achieved with the right handling. He went into the Holmes fight only having 2 fights in the previous 18 months that both ended in the first round. Add to that Cooney had never been past 8 rounds in his pro career so was really up against it challenging Holmes.

His management team was paranoid that he would lose to someone decent before he fought Holmes. Even after a respectable showing aga9nst Holmes, they were reluctant to have him someone good. Would have been interesting to have seen Cooney up against guys like Thomas, Dokes, Witherspoon, Page etc.