BoxRec

He won his first 17 bouts including an 8th round stoppage win over E. Shavers. He lost to Norton and Dokes in his next two bouts but gave a good accounting of him self in both. He won his next 4 bouts including a decision win over B. Mercado. He entered the ring at 21-2 vs the 40-0 Holmes. He was badly outboxed over 15 rounds but proved he was tough. Cobb won his next 4 then lost 4 in a row. He lost to B. Douglas, M. Dokes again, E. Gregg, and was even stopped in 1 by D. Collier in a strange bout. Cobb went 18-0-1 in his last 19 bouts including a win over L. Spinks then retired with an overall record of 43-7-1-36 and 0-1 in world title bouts. He was not a great but he was fun to watch at times. A true one of a kind!

I don't know what happened in the Dee Collier fight. I think I read that Tex was down 6 times in the first round before it was stopped. Prior to that, Cobb had a great chin, and he could punch some, but he was a slow, plodding type fighter. He fought Norton and Shavers at the end of their careers, but he was the type that would have always given them trouble.

He was like a Vinny Paz or Ray Mancini... Good skill, but the heart got him over the top in the bigger fights... and made them great to watch... I just with Cobb would've gotten another title shot.

i always wondered what happened in the dee collier fight. was this the fight that was fixed. there was alot of drama for many years with courts and lawsuits with tex cobb over somekind of drugs or match fixing.

surely thats the only logical explanation for the dee collier fight?

only cobb fight i saw was the larry holmes fight...i wasnt impressed

Ray,
That's because Holmes could beat any fighter in history... I'm not saying Holmes beats Louis or Ali 100% of the time, but he could win vs any fighter... so of course Tex Cobb, a 2nd tier (skill wise) fighter, is gonna look poor vs a guy of Holmes' skill level.

Plus, Cobb is an "in" fighter, and there's no way he was gonna get inside on holmes, through that Jab!

Check out a couple more of Cobb's bouts if you like the Gatti,Paz, Ward, Mancini type fights...

yes cobb was well over matched versus a guy like holmes.

Cobb was still a better boxer than actor, though.

Dee Colier was a tough guy with a bad record. CHeck his record in the database...he has gone the distance with some tough guys, and beaten some tough guys too! Records are not always the whole story and can be deceiving.

Dee was one of those upper-class-journeymen ... He COULD beat the favorite on any given night, but was chosen as an opponent to get a tough fight, but a win against.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Justin on 2002-04-05 03:13 ]</font>

I think what happened against Collier is that all the hard fights caught up with Tex. If I m right Cobb was floored in his bout previous to the Collier fight by Eddie Gregg in what was the first time Randy had ever been off his feet, so this seems to show a genuine decline rather than Cobb tanking it against Collier, something I cant believe a man like Tex would have ever done. He had far too much heart and pride.
Cobb was in a simular mold to the likes of Geoge Chavalo and Chuck Wepner, although he took more punches than Chuvalo (who was much cagier than he was given credit for) Cobb also lacked a great punch.
What he did have was a massive heart, great chin, and great infighting ability. As well as giving still dangerous Norton a great fight Cobb beat Shavers and gave Mike Dokes two tougth fights. He was unlucky only to get one shot at the world title, and then facing a prime Larry Holmes.
Cobb was also a good actor, have a look at Raising Arizoner.

The questionable bout Cobb was involved in was against Sonny Burch. It aired on Tuesday Night Fights. Supposedly Cobb's shoulder was bothering him that night and Burch offered to lay down early in exchange for Tex getting him a part in a movie. The fight ended in the 1st via the three knockdown rule. A few years after the fight, Sports Illustrated published an article about the incident and thats when the lawsuits started happening.

He put a scare or two into Michael Dokes.Dokes was tagging him and Cobb still kept coming.

Tex beat the hell out of Holmes' fists...with that concrete noggin' of his!

overhand_right wrote:yes cobb was well over matched versus a guy like holmes.

Cobb's comment after the Holmes fight is classic:
- "Holmes didn't beat me, he just won the first 15 rounds".
Brilliant!

-KOKid-

Decagon wrote:If instead of going up against a heavyweight, someone strung a heavybag in the middle of the ring, put a bowling ball where the head's supposed to go, duct tape a broom on the bag, put a boxing glove on the end of the broom, and swing the bag back and forth, and you fought that heavybag, it'd be just like fighting Tex Cobb.

Very accurate assessment.

and that damn bag would take out some pretty tough hombres along the way. He would just take it until some (not so brilliant though tough) opponents spent themselves and fell down on their own.

Funny thing about Tex Cobb was that as a kickboxer he looked really agile and coordinated. One time when an interviewer asked him who would win a fight between the heavyweight boxing champion and the best heavyweight kick boxer, Cobb replied "I would". He also said he'd beat Larry Holmes in a rematch if it were held inside a phone booth.

In his prime he was never ultra-elite, but was good enough to be considered a top-10 for a short while. He has probably one of the best three or four "chins" in ever--in that he could absorb an unbelievable amount of punishment (the Dee Collier incident, notwithstanding).

I think some people tend to look on him as a sort of novelty (Butterbean-like) because of his many film roles. They forget he was a legit boxer who fought for the world title.

He also fought for one of the kickboxing world titles if I remember correctly