What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 08 Jun 2026, 13:08
by Caractacus
How would he have done ?
Whom would he have had to fight to make the US Team in the first place ?
( he would have still been 19 yrs old)
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 08 Jun 2026, 13:17
by gilgamesh
He would've been going up against Teofilio Stevenson in the Gold Medal match assuming he made it there right? That would've been interesting.
Who's the biggest name that Stevenson beat in his Olympic career?
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 08 Jun 2026, 15:15
by tiny_acres
gilgamesh wrote: ↑08 Jun 2026, 13:17
He would've been going up against Teofilio Stevenson in the Gold Medal match assuming he made it there right? That would've been interesting.
Who's the biggest name that Stevenson beat in his Olympic career?
No idea how he would would of done
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 09 Jun 2026, 12:15
by Caractacus
Cooney would have fought John Tate at the Olympic Trials.
John Tate had fought Michael Dokes and Marvin Stinson
to go to the Olympics.
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 09 Jun 2026, 18:47
by Ambling Alp II
Never saw Cooney as an amateur. Actually, don't think he would have been at the highest weight class at the time. He was only at 175 in 1975. However, he was over 200 when turned pro in early 1977.
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 10 Jun 2026, 11:58
by Caractacus
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 10 Jun 2026, 12:15
by Caractacus
-1980-
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 10 Jun 2026, 12:44
by Nile4000
Caractacus wrote: ↑08 Jun 2026, 13:08
How would he have done ?
Whom would he have had to fight to make the US Team in the first place ?
( he would have still been 19 yrs old)
Can't see him beating Tate or Dokes to get there. Or Stinson and Clark for that matter.
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 10 Jun 2026, 13:50
by Ambling Alp II
Just watching Cooney, from that fight, you could tell that he was a work in progress. Couldn't believe how skinny he looked. The left hok was already there. The other fight should have stopped after the second time that the other guy's mouthpiece fell out. He was obviously doing that to stall. Cooney did move pretty well early on. He looked exhausted by the end. You could tell that he some ability, and in time could be good. No ready for the Olympics.
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Caractacus wrote: ↑08 Jun 2026, 13:08
How would he have done ?
Whom would he have had to fight to make the US Team in the first place ?
( he would have still been 19 yrs old)
Can't see him beating Tate or Dokes to get there. Or Stinson and Clark for that matter.
That's funny, I see him 'clobbering" all those guys getting the chance to face Teolfilio Stevenson
for the Gold.
(that would be a tough one to call)
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 10 Jun 2026, 15:41
by Caractacus
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Caractacus wrote: ↑08 Jun 2026, 13:08
How would he have done ?
Whom would he have had to fight to make the US Team in the first place ?
( he would have still been 19 yrs old)
Can't see him beating Tate or Dokes to get there. Or Stinson and Clark for that matter.
That's funny, I see him 'clobbering" all those guys getting the chance to face Teolfilio Stevenson
for the Gold.
(that would be a tough one to call)
You're a better man than me. Could see Stinson and Clark especially dragging Gerry into places he wouldn't want to go.
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 11 Jun 2026, 11:26
by Caractacus
I may have been exaggerrating some.
(The Bronze medal would have been more realistic)
as you may have had a point.
I remember reading a book chapter by Gil Clancey,
who said that when he was a match maker for Madison Square Garden,
he wanted to match Gerry Cooney and Marvin Stinson.
However Cooney's trainer and managers had nixed the idea.
(without telling Cooney)
The word got around to Cooney (via his sparring partners)
and it was said to have psychologicaly "destroyed" Cooney.
if his managers and trainers thought that Marvin Stinson was too good for him,
and that maybe he was a bum.