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
Well, 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.
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 13 Jun 2026, 13:02
by Caractacus
anyone know whom Gerry Cooney's coaches were and what gym he trained out of as an amateur ?
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 15 Jun 2026, 06:50
by pound per pound
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)
As a 19-year-old kid, Gerry Cooney was still very raw as an amateur all arms and legs. Long, powerful, and dangerous, but inexperienced and unpolished. I think he was likely to have medaled (probably bronze) at the 1976 Olympics, especially if he had landed on the opposite side of the bracket and avoided Teofilo Stevenson early.
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 16 Jun 2026, 11:40
by Caractacus
a bronze in the Olympic Trials or the Olympics themselves ?
I think it would have had to have been a combination of "KO's" and Byes"
for him to get to the Olympics quite frankly.
(It could have happened)
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 18 Jun 2026, 10:38
by Nile4000
Caractacus wrote: ↑16 Jun 2026, 11:40
a bronze in the Olympic Trials or the Olympics themselves ?
I think it would have had to have been a combination of "KO's" and Byes"
for him to get to the Olympics quite frankly.
(It could have happened)
But a very slim chance indeed.
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 18 Jun 2026, 13:59
by Caractacus
Here's one, what if Gerry Cooney wrote to Cus D'Amato in 1974
and wrote to him that not only did he (Cooney)wanted to become a fighter but the Heavyweight "Cham-peen" of the World.
Cus D'Amato say's "come on up to the Catskills and we'll see what you got"
Cooney does, D'Amato accepts him, Cooney moves into the 8 bed-room Victorian mansion
(even stays in the same room that Mike Tyson would do later)
also watches fight films in the attic "10 hours a day" like Tyson did.
Goes to numerous amateur boxing tournaments across the USA as a result.
how would Gerry Cooney been as a boxer in 1976, do you think ?
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 22 Jun 2026, 10:16
by Nile4000
Caractacus wrote: ↑18 Jun 2026, 13:59
Here's one, what if Gerry Cooney wrote to Cus D'Amato in 1974
and wrote to him that not only did he (Cooney)wanted to become a fighter but the Heavyweight "Cham-peen" of the World.
Cus D'Amato say's "come on up to the Catskills and we'll see what you got"
Cooney does, D'Amato accepts him, Cooney moves into the 8 bed-room Victorian mansion
(even stays in the same room that Mike Tyson would do later)
also watches fight films in the attic "10 hours a day" like Tyson did.
Goes to numerous amateur boxing tournaments across the USA as a result.
how would Gerry Cooney been as a boxer in 1976, do you think ?
A couple of steps ahead of what he actually was. But the proof in the pudding is if he gets by Angel Milian or Igor Vytsotsky.
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 22 Jun 2026, 20:45
by Ambling Alp II
D'Amato was nowhere near the genius that some people think he was.
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 23 Jun 2026, 10:13
by Expug
Also, Cus taught that peekaboo style that Tyson, Patterson, and Torres used.
The earmuff hands held high and bobbing and weaving exploding out of the crouch.
That’s not a good style for Cooney as it would nullify his height and leverage
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 23 Jun 2026, 10:47
by tiny_acres
Expug wrote: ↑23 Jun 2026, 10:13
Also, Cus taught that peekaboo style that Tyson, Patterson, and Torres used.
The earmuff hands held high and bobbing and weaving exploding out of the crouch.
That’s not a good style for Cooney as it would nullify his height and leverage
100% agree. Not a style that would fit Cooney. Would of likes to have seen Stewart or Futch with Cooney
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 23 Jun 2026, 12:57
by Caractacus
Eddie Futch had once said in an interview that he wished he could have trained Gerry Cooney.
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Expug wrote: ↑23 Jun 2026, 10:13
Also, Cus taught that peekaboo style that Tyson, Patterson, and Torres used.
The earmuff hands held high and bobbing and weaving exploding out of the crouch.
That’s not a good style for Cooney as it would nullify his height and leverage
100% agree. Not a style that would fit Cooney. Would of likes to have seen Stewart or Futch with Cooney
Either one of those guys may have gotten him across the finish line. Hard to say for sure though as Gerry unfortunately had other issues that were holding him back.
Ritchie Giachetti was a trainer that said he always taught his fighters to “ step with the jab”.
He worked with Holmes on that when he had him.
I’d have liked to see Gerry learn and do that. He pawed with it a bit too much.
Re: What if Gerry Cooney had been on the 1976 U.S Olympic Boxing team ?
Posted: 24 Jun 2026, 17:03
by Caractacus
Did Gerry Cooney and Mitch "Blood" Green ever meet up in the amateurs in New York City ?
They're both about the same age- August 1956/January 1957.