What If...... Gerry Cooney Had Gone The WBA Route

[Caractacus]

was the phone call between Cooney and President Recorded re-corded ?

[tiny_acres]

was the phone call between Cooney and President Recorded re-corded ?

I don't recall if it was recorded. I do remember it fondly being talked about on airing the fight live. It was talked about like it was just an honor to have the president call.
I'm going to go through my old magazines and see what I find

[Caractacus]

Well Cooney and Reagan were both American's of Irish extraction.
(and St. Patrick's Day was still really big and cultural in New York back in the early 1980's)
i could be wrong but I'm sure President Reagan could probably identify more with Gerry Cooney
Do you think any of Larry Holmes relatives back in Easton PN were hoping Cooney would win ?

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

Slow starting Weaver was tailor made for fast starting Cooney. I think it would be a
KO in 1 or 2 rounds.
He could beat Coetzee and Page. I think Dokes gives him the most troubles. But it all depends if after beating Weaver would Cooney dive into alcohol and drugs like he did after losing to Holmes

- Initially it was Weaver's WBA that was solid that was Cooney to win that would've made him a different fighter going forward. Don't remember how it unraveled, but most certainly DKing had his greedy hands in the change up.

That was a vicious match up vs Holmes what all the white supremists making noise with the FBI snipers on hotel rooftops if a race riot broke out.

Tillis was rated #2 and Cooney was rated #1 with the WBA.
King pressured the WBA and the WBA caved calling the Tillis fight Weavers mandatory.
It was so strange.
And yes the racist crap with the Cooney vs Holmes was over the top. Reagan calling Cooney before the fight telling him to bring the title home was blatantly racist.
Bring it home??? WTF? Holmes was an American what did he mean bring it home?
Bring it home from where?

- Poor Lar one of the most unpopular champs ever always had an inferiority complex of being the giant sucking sound when Ali/Frazier, Norton, and Foreman retired. I mean Dwayne Bobick knocked him out of the the Olympic team in front of his mentor Ali on national TV.



In fact he spent his entire IBHOF speech ripping Foreman to shreds, just pitiable.

When Reagan appointed a black justice to the Cali supreme court, he found out that he was the black kid he rescued as a lifeguard. Reagan in spite of Democratic Hatred was one of the most popular folksy presidents ever with the populace. He was never the same after the fragging explosive bullets entering his braincase just about did him in.

[Caractacus]

Dang, Duane Bobick had some well developed "Latissimus dorsi" didn't he ? lol
( if he had a better tan it would have stood out more I'm sure)

[Nile4000]

Dang, Duane Bobick had some well developed "Latissimus dorsi" didn't he ? lol
( if he had a better tan it would have stood out more I'm sure)

Didn't help him against John Tate, however.

[Caractacus]

If I had been Bobick's trainer I would have had Bobick 'shadow-box' for a full hour
prior to the fight.
That and also hire Ken Norton's "hypnotist"

[Joson]

Cooney was easy to hit and didn't take a punch very well. He was also a bit slow and lumbering. I think he would have lost to Weaver, Tate, Coetzee, Page, and Dokes.

I do however give Gerry an outside chance of winning those fights, though, because of his crushing left-hook.

[Caractacus]

"lumbering" ? I thought Cooney had looked rather 'light on his feet" for someone that size
didn't take a punch well ? other then Larry Holmes and George Foreman who else had knocked Cooney down
during his pro boxing career ?

[Joson]

"lumbering" ? I thought Cooney had looked rather 'light on his feet" for someone that size
didn't take a punch well ? other then Larry Holmes and George Foreman who else had knocked Cooney down
during his pro boxing career ?

Cooney never looked light on his feet to me. I remember Jose Torres (form lightheavy champ) described him as "clumsy" in a Village Voice article. As for durability, Gerry's legs turned to rubber every time Holmes landed a right hand.

Keep in mind that Gerry did not fight many genuinely top-flight heavyweights. If he had, we would have seen him floored more often.

Cooney was strictly an offensive fighter: no defense, no capacity to fight off his back foot. True, he had superb offensive skills, but that will take a fighter only so far if he lacks defense and durability.

[Caractacus]

BTW that had been "Dr. Dean" of Northwestern University that Ken Norton
had hired after Norton's knock-out loss to Jose Luis Garcia in 1970.
The hypnotist got a lot of attention when Norton had fought Ali in 1973.
Norton saw Dr. Dean every Friday for a 45 minute session.
Not sure what was the last fight Norton had Dr. Dean on the payroll.

[Caractacus]

-1973-

[Caractacus]

-1980-

[Ambling Alp II]

"lumbering" ? I thought Cooney had looked rather 'light on his feet" for someone that size
didn't take a punch well ? other then Larry Holmes and George Foreman who else had knocked Cooney down
during his pro boxing career ?

Michael Spinks knocked Cooney down and stopped him.
Cooney was not light on his feet but he also was not lumbering. Have average foot movement.
Would have been interesting if he had fought Tate, Weaver, Dokes etc. Guessing he would have won some and lost some against those guys.

[Seamus]

Cooney was a coke head when he fought Foreman and Spinks.

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

"lumbering" ? I thought Cooney had looked rather 'light on his feet" for someone that size
didn't take a punch well ? other then Larry Holmes and George Foreman who else had knocked Cooney down
during his pro boxing career ?

Cooney never looked light on his feet to me. I remember Jose Torres (form lightheavy champ) described him as "clumsy" in a Village Voice article. As for durability, Gerry's legs turned to rubber every time Holmes landed a right hand.

Keep in mind that Gerry did not fight many genuinely top-flight heavyweights. If he had, we would have seen him floored more often.

Cooney was strictly an offensive fighter: no defense, no capacity to fight off his back foot. True, he had superb offensive skills, but that will take a fighter only so far if he lacks defense and durability.

- The Cooney stamina is what did him in vs Tubby Lar who was still skinny then. He was handily ahead on the scorecards before landing his below the beltline fouls and just sorta melted out of that fight.

[Caractacus]

Cooney was a coke head when he fought Foreman and Spinks.

Did you read Gerry Cooney's autobiography ?

[Seamus]

No, just some interviews. One of his best performances was against Jimmy Young.

[Joson]

Cooney vs Weaver would have been fascinating because Mike was always a notoriously slow starter. By contrast, Gerry - at his peak - came out throwing nuke bombs from the opening bell.

This means Cooney might have stood a good chance of catching Weaver cold and scoring a first or second round knockout.

But, in such a fight, if Weaver's still on his feet by the end of the fourth - regardless of how beaten up he was - he'd come back to win. Once Mike got his rocket-like left-jab pumping, he'd have an advantage over Gerry. Possibly an insurmountable advantage.

[gilgamesh]

Cooney vs Weaver would have been fascinating because Mike was always a notoriously slow starter. By contrast, Gerry - at his peak - came out throwing nuke bombs from the opening bell.

This means Cooney might have stood a good chance of catching Weaver cold and scoring a first or second round knockout.

But, in such a fight, if Weaver's still on his feet by the end of the fourth - regardless of how beaten up he was - he'd come back to win. Once Mike got his rocket-like left-jab pumping, he'd have an advantage over Gerry. Possibly an insurmountable advantage.

Both Weaver and Cooney's best shots are their Left Hooks. So it'd be interesting in that regard too. They're both looking to land the same money punch.