BoxRec

Now that I have an OK internet plan, I shall attempt to
upload various fights to YT again.

Here is Cooneys attempt to get back into the HW scene
when he took on talented Eddie Gregg.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quJMLgWpE40

This was Cooney's first fight in 17 months.
Gregg had 5 fights during that time,including a fight with Tex Cobb whom he knocked down in the 9th round in a 10 round fight .
Anyone know if the Gregg-Cobb fight was recorded?It was a preliminary to the Holmes-Carl Williams fight which aired live on NBC Television in May .20.1985 from Reno NV.
I think the final preliminary was Marvis Frazier-Quick Tillis
NBC probably video-taped the Gregg-Cobb fight in case
of early knock outs.

Thanks a lot for this. I rated Gerry Cooney at his peak as one of the 15 best non active HW's since Ali retired. ( I have him at 12).

He really was better on his best day than many give him credit for.

Looks like Gerry Cooney went to the same hair stylist as Tony Manero did back in the day in Brooklyn .

ZOMG!!!111! A white Heavyweight who could actually fight?! *head explodes*

Cooney looked great vs guys he could whack out in the early rounds . . .it was when he got hit back that problems arose.

Diamond WEAPON wrote:ZOMG!!!111! A white Heavyweight who could actually fight?! *head explodes*

Where you been?

Brutu wrote:Looks like Gerry Cooney went to the same hair stylist as Tony Manero did back in the day in Brooklyn .

I always thought Gerry intentionally looked down at the pre fight staredown and acted dopey pre fight in the ring during the introductions to try and be more like rocky balboa.

punchoutsb wrote:

Diamond WEAPON wrote:ZOMG!!!111! A white Heavyweight who could actually fight?! *head explodes*

Where you been?

I was just parodying an older thread here where a poster made reference to youtube taking down a bunch of Cooney's fights for some unknown reason and them speculating that they wanted to cover-up Cooney's career because it's easier to accept that no white boy can fight and he was just some overhyped bum like "Irish" Terry Conklin in The Great White Hype.

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.

I was a huge fan of Cooney in the early 80's, but after the layoff following the George Chaplin fight I really began to lose faith in him. So when the Eddie Gregg fight was announced I thought Gregg had a good chance. I'd seen him a couple of times and was reasonably impressed by him. When Gerry knocked him out in the first round I was really surprised and figured he would steamroll Michael Spinks.

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.

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.

Reggie Gross was a better fighter than Gregg.

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.

I already stated that his opposition "ranged from modest to half way decent." which I believe to be fair. His #3 rating was too high. But he was a serviceable opponent and Cooney's first fight in 17 months, and only the 3rd in 4 years. A first round knockout over a guy like that isn't what I'd call a sh-t win. Watch the fight sometime.

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

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

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.

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.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote: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.

I'd favor Cooney as well, but Gross was a good fighter and Cooney always presented a good target for someone who could punch.

I think I would favor Jeff Sims over Cooney. Sims was slow and pretty limited, but he was a very big puncher.

The Great John L wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote: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.

I'd favor Cooney as well, but Gross was a good fighter and Cooney always presented a good target for someone who could punch.

I think I would favor Jeff Sims over Cooney. Sims was slow and pretty limited, but he was a very big puncher.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.