BoxRec

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:Fighters always say they've never been hit harder than by a punch they took. Holyfield had George more wobbly than Cooney did.

Young ranks Shavers as the hardest man he ever got hit by and he survived Foreman, but got sparked by Earnie in their first fight.

The Great John L wrote:

HomicideHenry wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:
Yup, his defense was incredibly poor so he was a fish out of water once he was hurt. Gerry's power is overrated too, he wasn't a one punch guy. Decent speed for such a big guy, good body puncher. These are the level of guys that he never faced, straight from cans to shot names to an all time great.

Defense, yes, never was Cooney's strong suit. Power? I disagree. Before Tyson came along no one hit as hard as Gerry Cooney could. And how could one forget, that Foreman said Cooney hit him with the single hardest punch he ever took? And that was an even worse version of Gerry than the version that fought Spinks, Gregg, etc.

That's because George probably doesn't even remember the Lyle fight. Lyle was a much harder puncher than Cooney.

he remembers it fine. In an interview in the 90's, he said that Lyle was the toughest fight he ever had and that was after he fought Cooney.

HomicideHenry wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:
I don't think Gerry hit harder than some of his contemporaries. Spoon,Weaver & old Shavers definitely punched harder imo. Guys like Mercado too. I'm not saying he wasn't above average in power with his hook, but his right hand was nothing.

I think the difference between Cooney and say Weaver, is that Weaver had a low volume punch rate. Old Shavers on the other hand, especially against Cobb, was wildly sloppy. Far as 'Spoon goes, I will always consider him more the stylist/tactician than puncher.

I'd rather get hit by Cooney than any of them. Old Shavers might have been sloppy, but he hit harder than Gerry Cooney.

drunkenpiper36 wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:Fighters always say they've never been hit harder than by a punch they took. Holyfield had George more wobbly than Cooney did.

Young ranks Shavers as the hardest man he ever got hit by and he survived Foreman, but got sparked by Earnie in their first fight.

There are exceptions to the rule.

"SaadOffTheDeck"

I'd rather get hit by Cooney than any of them. Old Shavers might have been sloppy, but he hit harder than Gerry Cooney.

I didn't realize I was talking to Jimmy Young all this time.

drunkenpiper36 wrote:

"SaadOffTheDeck"

I'd rather get hit by Cooney than any of them. Old Shavers might have been sloppy, but he hit harder than Gerry Cooney.

I didn't realize I was talking to Jimmy Young all this time.

drunkenpiper36 wrote:Cooney's victory over Eddie Gregg was vastly underrated. Gregg was the WBA's #3 contender. A large fellow at 6'5", 222 lbs and with a fine record of 24-1-1-17 against opposition that ranged from modest to half way decent. I saw the fight on youtube. Gerry didn't look bad for a guy who had only appeared twice in four years. Another fight I watched of his recently was the Phillip Brown bout. An additionally good win over an equally able bodied opponent and again coming after a long absence.

Gregg was a decent fighter, but they probably saw him getting stopped by James Broad, and then decided to fight him.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

The Great John L wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:Reggie Gross was a better fighter than Gregg.

Absolutely. And he would have had a decent chance of stopping Cooney.

Yup, I'd favor Gerry there but he'd have a better shot than Cooney would in some of these match ups that are up. I was a big fan of Jimmy Clark as an amateur, I remember when Gross beat him.

Always thought Jimmy Clark, from what I've seen from the Stevenson fights especially, was a good fighter. But, never thought he would suceed as a pro.He was missing that certain "it" factor.

Nile4000 wrote:

drunkenpiper36 wrote:Cooney's victory over Eddie Gregg was vastly underrated. Gregg was the WBA's #3 contender. A large fellow at 6'5", 222 lbs and with a fine record of 24-1-1-17 against opposition that ranged from modest to half way decent. I saw the fight on youtube. Gerry didn't look bad for a guy who had only appeared twice in four years. Another fight I watched of his recently was the Phillip Brown bout. An additionally good win over an equally able bodied opponent and again coming after a long absence.

Gregg was a decent fighter, but they probably saw him getting stopped by James Broad, and then decided to fight him.

Possibly. I think they were looking for an opponent that was semi-respectable but posed no real threat. Cooney handn't fought in close to two years or something like 17 months so taking on a man of Gregg's stature wasn't anything to scoff about. It was a lot better than fighting James Tillis who every body and their brother was pounding on at that time.

Nile4000 wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

The Great John L wrote: Absolutely. And he would have had a decent chance of stopping Cooney.

Yup, I'd favor Gerry there but he'd have a better shot than Cooney would in some of these match ups that are up. I was a big fan of Jimmy Clark as an amateur, I remember when Gross beat him.

Always thought Jimmy Clark, from what I've seen from the Stevenson fights especially, was a good fighter. But, never thought he would suceed as a pro.He was missing that certain "it" factor.

If my memory serves me, he was missing saying No to drugs.

dempseyfire wrote:

drunkenpiper36 wrote:Cooney's victory over Eddie Gregg was vastly underrated. Gregg was the WBA's #3 contender. A large fellow at 6'5", 222 lbs and with a fine record of 24-1-1-17 against opposition that ranged from modest to half way decent. I saw the fight on youtube. Gerry didn't look bad for a guy who had only appeared twice in four years. Another fight I watched of his recently was the Phillip Brown bout. An additionally good win over an equally able bodied opponent and again coming after a long absence.

Oh give me a break, Gregg was the very definition of a sanctioning body giving a horribly high ranking to someone who shouldn't have been there. Beating a past-it Cobb and a never-was Hernandez should've never gotten a fighter anywhere near a top 5 ranking. Gregg was a good journeyman level opponent . .if you want to be kind call him a lower level gatekeeper.

Gregg had some ability but never should have been a highly rated contender. Madison Square Garden tried to hype him as the next big thing; but he simply was not that good. I specifically remember a fight vs Young Joe Louis in New York on the USA Networks Friday Night fights where John Condon was on saying that Gregg was the next big thing.

That being said, it was a decent opponent for Cooney to fight after a layoff; within a year his management team then should have got him into a fight vs one of the WBS boys (Witherspoon, Dokes, Page etc.) Sooner or later it they should have seen whether Cooney would sink or swim. We will never know what would have happened.