Dennis Rappaport, best known as the co-manager of Gerry Cooney, passed away Thursday at the age of 81.
Rappaport broke into the boxing world in 1976 but it was when guiding Cooney, alongside Mike Jones, that the manager and promoter really came into prominence. Though Cooney ultimately failed in two bids to win heavyweight championships - beaten by Larry Holmes in a 1982 mega-fight and Michael Spinks in a bid for lineal recognition five years later - Rappaport would also work with heavyweights like George Foreman, Tim Witherspoon, Trevor Berbick, Tony Tucker and Oleg Maskaev.
Other notable names Rappaport promoted include Roberto Duran, Billy Costello, Howard Davis Jnr and Hector "Macho" Camacho.
Yet it was his work with Cooney, for a time the most marketable of all heavyweights, for which Rappaport will be defined. Employing at times ridiculous, but effective, marketing skills, Rappaport and Jones - who would surround Cooney with showgirls and even dwarves to generate publicity - became known as the "Wacko Twins".
Rappaport, in 1985, attempted to drum up interest in a Holmes-Cooney rematch by suggesting that the champion had taken amyl nitrates to awaken his senses during Holmes' stoppage victory three years earlier. Holmes was incensed with the suggestion and promised legal action, forcing Rappaport to later admit that his claims were largely unsubstantiated. "I just wanted people to start talking about Cooney-Holmes again," he said.
Certainly his methods were unique but Rappaport, from New York, was a key figure during an incredible boxing era.
A memorial service will be held at Riverside Chapel in Great Neck on Sunday May 17 at 1pm.
