Gerry Cooney vs Mike Weaver hvywt

[zuru]

This is for 15 rds.Sure they might not be the cream of the crop,or even close to it,but this should be entertaining.Cooney showed against Holmes(at least to me)that despite being spoonfed a diet of over the hill non threatening opponents,he could punch,and I thought he showed heart.Holmes was smacking him silly,and a lot of guys especially having made that jump in class,would have packed it in.Weaver may have held the title,but he was never a presence.At best he was probably a fringe contender,with a good chin,and real good punch.He benefitted from facing the glass jawed Tate,and good conditioning.Too bad he and Holmes never unified,I'm sure Holmes would have won,although Weaver did have a puncher's chance.Would Cooney come out blasting the slow starting Weaver?Would those wrecking ball hooks,crash into Weaver's body and double to the head for an early 1st or 2nd rd k.o.?Or would Weaver survive,maybe going down,but weather the storm,land some big shots of his own,and battle back to stop a tiring Cooney late?I'm sure most will pick Weaver,but I'm going to go with Cooney doing an ambush (ala Michael Dokes)and come out smoking.He backs Weaver into the ropes and flails away.Love him or hate him,Cooney could punch brutally,and with a stationary target on the ropes,still not fully warmed up and limber,Weaver goes down,gets up,and goes down again for the ref to call a halt in round 1.Winner Cooney

[HomicideHenry]

Before Tyson came on in the mid 80's Gerry Cooney's left hook was the hardest punch, the most devestating weapon of the times. Yes Cooney never fought a guy all in his prime before he fought Holmes, but I think there is a great possibility that had he opted to face WBA champion Gerrie Coetzee rather than Holmes he would have been a champion. And who's to say that had Cooney not prepared himself better over time, that he would have eventually defeated Larry Holmes, rather than Michael Spinks?

Cooney lost to HOF fighters: Holmes, Spinks and Foreman. The Holmes fight was when he was pushed too soon into a title fight, the other losses were after long periods of inactivity and Cooney was battling drug addiction (at least in the case of the Spinks fight).

The Holmes fight was closer than people give Cooney credit for, if you had not taken away the points for the low blow to Holmes the fight would have been damn near even. Cooney fought harder in defeat and had alot of guts and heart. After the loss to Holmes, Cooney faded into obscurity. Here was a man that was deemed to be the next great HW champion, only to lose and be called a joke and a disgrace. Totally unfair.

I think everybody, outside of Tyson, Holmes and Spinks, Cooney could have defeated. Nobody else in that era came close in power, and lets face it, all of the 'title holders' were pretty average and didnt capture anyones imaginations. Sure they had talent, but they often lost as much as they won fights. Cooney's losses are excusable in my book, what were anyone else's in that time?

Cooney would beat Weaver, though I do say that Weaver had very good power himself and Cooney would have had fits early on; that is if Cooney's left hook didnt get to Weaver first.

[ebeneezer]

The Holmes fight was closer than people give Cooney credit for, if you had not taken away the points for the low blow to Holmes the fight would have been damn near even. .

*cough*BULLSHIT*cough*

[HomicideHenry]

Have you ever even seen the score cards for Holmes-Cooney? Here they are:

113-111, 113-111, 115-109.

Now Cooney was deducted 3 points for low blows. Now as for the 113-111 scores that were in Holmes favor (due to low blows) add in those 3pts that were taken away and you get 114-113 in COONEY's favor!

As for the 115-109 score against Cooney, it would be 115-112 still in Holmes favor. But that is really fornicating close, overall.

Now what do you got to say? :P

[Collins2000]

Before Tyson came on in the mid 80's Gerry Cooney's left hook was the hardest punch, the most devestating weapon of the times. Yes Cooney never fought a guy all in his prime before he fought Holmes, but I think there is a great possibility that had he opted to face WBA champion Gerrie Coetzee rather than Holmes he would have been a champion. And who's to say that had Cooney not prepared himself better over time, that he would have eventually defeated Larry Holmes, rather than Michael Spinks?

Cooney lost to HOF fighters: Holmes, Spinks and Foreman. The Holmes fight was when he was pushed too soon into a title fight, the other losses were after long periods of inactivity and Cooney was battling drug addiction (at least in the case of the Spinks fight).

The Holmes fight was closer than people give Cooney credit for, if you had not taken away the points for the low blow to Holmes the fight would have been damn near even. Cooney fought harder in defeat and had alot of guts and heart. After the loss to Holmes, Cooney faded into obscurity. Here was a man that was deemed to be the next great HW champion, only to lose and be called a joke and a disgrace. Totally unfair.

I think everybody, outside of Tyson, Holmes and Spinks, Cooney could have defeated. Nobody else in that era came close in power, and lets face it, all of the 'title holders' were pretty average and didnt capture anyones imaginations. Sure they had talent, but they often lost as much as they won fights. Cooney's losses are excusable in my book, what were anyone else's in that time?

Cooney would beat Weaver, though I do say that Weaver had very good power himself and Cooney would have had fits early on; that is if Cooney's left hook didnt get to Weaver first.

It's hard to say how Cooney would have gone against the other contenders / alphabet champs when he was in his prime as he elected not to face any of them and went straight into a huge money fight against Holmes. He was totally unprepared for Larry and got a career-shortening beating though I notice you once again claim it was a close fight. I guess you have never seen it and are going on the judges scorecards at the finish. If you look a bit further into it you'll be hard pressed to find any fight reports that didn't mention the that the scoring was terrible.

Also, I don't recall Cooney being referred as a 'disgrace' in the the aftermath of the Holmes fight. Where did you pluck that gem from? As I recall, he got credit for giving his all until his bodily finally gave in from the solid hammering he'd taken.

[HomicideHenry]

As for the disgrace part, all I ever hear from the majority of 'fans' is that Cooney was nothing more than a 'white hope'. With no coincidence, the majority of those who say so are black fight fans. Cooney may have got a short cut to the title fight, but he was not at all some bum either.

The score cards could be different than the fight its self, I have seen the fight only once or twice, and while Larry was landing alot of shots, he appeared to me for a few rounds to be the only one hurt, that is until he upped the ante on Cooney. Both men were tired and hurting in that fight, and it can be argued that the prime Holmes never had such a test up until that time in his career since 1978 when he fought Ken Norton for the WBC title.

[zuru]

Before Tyson came on in the mid 80's Gerry Cooney's left hook was the hardest punch, the most devestating weapon of the times. Yes Cooney never fought a guy all in his prime before he fought Holmes, but I think there is a great possibility that had he opted to face WBA champion Gerrie Coetzee rather than Holmes he would have been a champion. And who's to say that had Cooney not prepared himself better over time, that he would have eventually defeated Larry Holmes, rather than Michael Spinks?

Cooney lost to HOF fighters: Holmes, Spinks and Foreman. The Holmes fight was when he was pushed too soon into a title fight, the other losses were after long periods of inactivity and Cooney was battling drug addiction (at least in the case of the Spinks fight).

The Holmes fight was closer than people give Cooney credit for, if you had not taken away the points for the low blow to Holmes the fight would have been damn near even. Cooney fought harder in defeat and had alot of guts and heart. After the loss to Holmes, Cooney faded into obscurity. Here was a man that was deemed to be the next great HW champion, only to lose and be called a joke and a disgrace. Totally unfair.

I think everybody, outside of Tyson, Holmes and Spinks, Cooney could have defeated. Nobody else in that era came close in power, and lets face it, all of the 'title holders' were pretty average and didnt capture anyones imaginations. Sure they had talent, but they often lost as much as they won fights. Cooney's losses are excusable in my book, what were anyone else's in that time?

Cooney would beat Weaver, though I do say that Weaver had very good power himself and Cooney would have had fits early on; that is if Cooney's left hook didnt get to Weaver first.

IRM,
Again I agree with almost everything you say,aside from the scoring,which I remember there was a controversy about how close judges had it.Holmes was clearly winning,and I think it was part of the sub-concious pro Cooney hype,that had the judges somewhat mesmerized,and had it closer than it was.But given the whole picture,Cooney put on a very good,courageous effort that I myself found admirable.And I know what you mean about the negative Cooney comments,where he is a joke to many,but I bet you money,he would surely surprise them.While he may not have been a world beater,he was certainly better than what I hear most people giving him credit for.And if he had more confidence,and jumped back on the horse after losing to Holmes,he would have become champion,and I think demolished Foreman & Spinks(both of whom I like).He would have hit to hard,and fast for the slow moving Foreman,and been too big & powerful for Spinks.Anybody he hit cleanly,would go boom!
zuru

[zendo59]

As for the disgrace part, all I ever hear from the majority of 'fans' is that Cooney was nothing more than a 'white hope'. With no coincidence, the majority of those who say so are black fight fans. Cooney may have got a short cut to the title fight, but he was not at all some bum either.

The score cards could be different than the fight its self, I have seen the fight only once or twice, and while Larry was landing alot of shots, he appeared to me for a few rounds to be the only one hurt, that is until he upped the ante on Cooney. Both men were tired and hurting in that fight, and it can be argued that the prime Holmes never had such a test up until that time in his career since 1978 when he fought Ken Norton for the WBC title.

I doubt you have seen it, but even if you had, you'd obviously have no fekkin idea what you were seeing.

That was a steady career-shortening beating doled out to Cooney by Holmes. Your categorising it as a close fight is totally ridiculous.

[zendo59]

As for the disgrace part, all I ever hear from the majority of 'fans' is that Cooney was nothing more than a 'white hope'. With no coincidence, the majority of those who say so are black fight fans. Cooney may have got a short cut to the title fight, but he was not at all some bum either.

The score cards could be different than the fight its self, I have seen the fight only once or twice, and while Larry was landing alot of shots, he appeared to me for a few rounds to be the only one hurt, that is until he upped the ante on Cooney. Both men were tired and hurting in that fight, and it can be argued that the prime Holmes never had such a test up until that time in his career since 1978 when he fought Ken Norton for the WBC title.

Rupert, take your racist bullsh*t somewhere else. You have become very stale , very quickly.

[HomicideHenry]

Collins dont start with me. Almost all the black people involved in the fight were calling Cooney a great white hope. Even Larry Holmes made somewhat ill remarks on how Cooney got the cover of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED rather than him saying that he didn't get the cover because white people figured black don't read magazines and other garbage like that.

Call me a racist if you want, I ain't, I'm a person of diverse ancestral backgrounds. But thats your perogative. If anyone whose racist anymore these days are the blacks calling everybody whatever the hell they want and going on how white ppl cant fight, jump, dance or do anything. Kiss ass all you want to, but racism is racism irregardless who it comes from.

I am just stating facts. Everybody from Don King to Holmes was being racist towards Cooney and jealous if anything that Cooney was the meal ticket in that fight and Holmes wasn't. All those promoters and those involved turned it into another Jefferies-Johnson, when all Cooney wanted to do was fight. Everyone else made it into an issue of race.

[The Great John L]

Both men were tired and hurting in that fight, and it can be argued that the prime Holmes never had such a test up until that time in his career since 1978 when he fought Ken Norton for the WBC title.

The Holmes-Cooney fight was competitive but pretty one sided, and as many have noted, the scoring was a bit odd.

I think Weaver gave Holmes a much tougher fight than Cooney. And I also think that despite his sometimes suspect chin, Weaver’s vastly superior experience gives him an edge over Cooney. Weaver by KO inside of 6 rounds.

[overhand_right]

The scoring for Holmes/Cooney was controversial. Thankfully, Holmes took it out of their hands. Thankfully, Buster Douglas similarly took the decision out of the judges hands when he knocked out Tyson, 2 judges had TYSON ahead!

As for Weaver, he was no walkover for a man like Cooney. He knocked guys out COLD who showed a hell of a lot more than Cooney did over their careers. Cooneys potential is all theoretical and fantasy. Weavers was achieved and reality.

Weaver by kayo is my pick. Cooney walks into something at some point.

[KOJOE90]

I have to go with the more proven Mike Weaver in this matchup. They were both good fighters with KO power but where Weaver was thrown to the wolves early in his career and had to fight his way into the title picture and he was a more complete fighter for it. Cooney was very protected (for financial reasons I imagine).

Weaver beat the types of a prime Tate, Tillis, Ward and Coatzee and got screwed in the Dokes rematch whilst Cooney was fed journeymen and the ghosts of Ron Lyle and Jimmy Young.

Cooney had the left hook that may well have caught Weaver cold, that would not have been the biggest shock ever would it? But all things being equel I edge towards Weaver to outpunch and outlast Cooney for a points win or maybe late round TKO.

Cooney had the physical tools to be a much better fighter than he was, but due to his management and/or lack of self believe it never happened.

[zuru]

I have to go with the more proven Mike Weaver in this matchup. They were both good fighters with KO power but where Weaver was thrown to the wolves early in his career and had to fight his way into the title picture and he was a more complete fighter for it. Cooney was very protected (for financial reasons I imagine).

Weaver beat the types of a prime Tate, Tillis, Ward and Coatzee and got screwed in the Dokes rematch whilst Cooney was fed journeymen and the ghosts of Ron Lyle and Jimmy Young.

Cooney had the left hook that may well have caught Weaver cold, that would not have been the biggest shock ever would it? But all things being equel I edge towards Weaver to outpunch and outlast Cooney for a points win or maybe late round TKO.

Cooney had the physical tools to be a much better fighter than he was, but due to his management and/or lack of self believe it never happened.

I agree Weaver was tough,and had good power,But Cooney punched A LOT harder than Dokes,and he came out smoking,so I think that give him a real good shot at pulling off the ambush in my scenario,Carl Williams ALMOST pulled off a similar feat,but walked into a Weaver bomb.But again,Williams may have ben fast,but he didn't punch like Cooney,and was a bit more straight up,when having Weaver on the ropes,whereas I think Cooney would have been bending at the waist and knee,digging in that hook to the body,up to the head.
zuru

[overhand_right]

Yeah but does Cooney hit that much harder than Coetzee? I dont think so. Cooney could punch but he never knocked a prime & hungry fighter dead, and his best shots couldnt even budge Michael Spinks.

I dont doubt Cooney can hurt Weaver, but Weaver knew how to fight, was never protected and as better men than Cooney learned would come back from punihsment and fight tooth & nail. Weaver far more credible and proven for my liking than Cooney.

[cosand]

The late Howard Cosell nailed it....

The only reason the Holmes-Cooney fight went as long as it did, is that Holmes went into the fight actually believing the Cooney media hype.
Watch the early rounds of the fight. You have never seen Holms look so tentative and cautions. By round 6 or seven, Holmes knew the promised KO power hadn’t come, and it wasn’t coming, and that was the beginning of the end

Cooney's career ended just as it should have. He beat the soup cans, he beat the gatekeepers, he KOd two guys 8 to 10 years past their prime, and then hit a wall when he tried to cash in.
He licked his wounds and dabbled in the sport, not to mention in drugs, booze and hookers for the next 5 years, and then hit a wall a second time when he took on another actual contender.

Oh yeah...the original question.....Weaver takes out Cooney in the middle rounds

[RazorKO]

Its hard to say who wins this fight.

Id give Cooney a chance to score a quick knockout in 3 rounds, but if Weaver is still there at the end of the 6th than its Weaver who will come out on top.

Cooney probably had the more deadlier left hook than Weaver but Weaver overall had the better arsenal as Cooney only relied on that big left to win.

This fight should of happened and it would of been an exciting match.

[ebeneezer]

The late Howard Cosell nailed it....

The only reason the Holmes-Cooney fight went as long as it did, is that Holmes went into the fight actually believing the Cooney media hype.
Watch the early rounds of the fight. You have never seen Holms look so tentative and cautions. By round 6 or seven, Holmes knew the promised KO power hadn’t come, and it wasn’t coming, and that was the beginning of the end

Not really. Holmes opened up on Cooney in round 2 and dropped him. He opened up again in round 4 but took an absolutley vicious left to the body that sent him staggering back to his corner holding the top rope.

He fought tentaivley after that until round 9 when he began pouring it on again until he stopped Gerry in the 13th.

[silkov]

Have you ever even seen the score cards for Holmes-Cooney? Here they are:

113-111, 113-111, 115-109.

Now Cooney was deducted 3 points for low blows. Now as for the 113-111 scores that were in Holmes favor (due to low blows) add in those 3pts that were taken away and you get 114-113 in COONEY's favor!

As for the 115-109 score against Cooney, it would be 115-112 still in Holmes favor. But that is really effing close, overall.

Now what do you got to say? :P

Just because the 'judges' scored the fight like that doesnt mean thats how it was, the fight was competitive but Holmes was a class above Cooney, ...quite frankly the judges (and most of the media) wanted Cooney to win and I'm sure that had the fight gone the distance Holmes would have got shafted on points... again, competive fight but Holmes was always going to win it (aside from the three blind mice/judges!)

[Nile4000]

In the first five rounds, Cooney. Beyond that, Weaver would win.

[drunkenpiper36]

If Cooney had gotten weaver in trouble early the way that Michael Dokes did, he would have finished him, and unlike the Dokes fight, an early and controversial ref intervention wouldn't have been needed. Of course, Weaver had only fought once in two years going into the Dokes fight. He got back in his groove and arguably beat him in the rematch, ( that draw was iffy ) so I'll let that performance slide. Mike was tough. He punched hard, had great stamina, undying heart and ALWAYS showed up looking chizzled. I wouldn't like Gerry's chances if this fight went beyond the mid rounds, remembering what hercules did to Tate and Coetzee. But again, once Gerry got a man in trouble early he virtually never let him off the hook. And he was one of the fastest starters to charge out of the gate in the 80's, with a ton of power and having lot of size over Weaver.. Tossup for my money.

[BoxBuzz]

Lot of Cooney Bones gettin' dug up. Guess we got us a new trend goin' on this month.

Is his birthday comin' up? lol

I think Weaver Cooney would be a good fight. Might keep my money in my wallet on this one. Might lean toward Cooney a bit.

[drunkenpiper36]

Lot of Cooney Bones gettin' dug up. Guess we got us a new trend goin' on this month.

Is his birthday comin' up? lol

I think Weaver Cooney would be a good fight. Might keep my money in my wallet on this one. Might lean toward Cooney a bit.

I opened them. And his birthday isn't until August fourth at which point he'll be 58. Haven't quite decided what to get him.. joking. But yeah I found some of these threads of the past interesting with the conflicting opinions of him, and being new here, I thought I'd do some searching.

[The Great John L]

Weaver by blowout. KO1

[drunkenpiper36]

Weaver by blowout. KO1

Over who?