Bernard Hopkins doesn’t consider Tyson Fury the best active heavyweight in boxing.
The former middleweight and light heavyweight champion is awed, however, by Fury’s incredible ability to promote himself. In fact, Hopkins has seen only one better salesman in boxing history, the incomparable Muhammad Ali.
“He’s a great salesman,” Hopkins told BoxingScene.com recently regarding Fury. “Oh, one of the best. One of the best. I think it’s Ali, then him. Seriously. Because, to me, nothing personal, I don’t think he’s greatest, [most] talented fighter or even ‘The Great White Hope.’ I think Gerry Cooney was a little bit better, ‘The Gentleman.’ Yeah.”
The long-retired Cooney was 25-0 when he challenged Larry Holmes for the WBC heavyweight championship in June 1982. The Long Island native had stopped veteran heavyweights Jimmy Young, Ron Lyle and Ken Norton in his three previous fights and Don King coined Cooney “The Great White Hope.”
Holmes-Cooney was a close fight before a then-unbeaten Holmes stopped Cooney in the 13th round of a scheduled 15-rounder at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Cooney had three points deducted by referee Miles Lane for low blows and thus trailed on all three scorecards entering the 13th round (113-111, 113-111, 115-109).
Cooney concluded his career with a 28-3 record, including 24 knockouts, following back-to-back, technical-knockout losses to Michael Spinks and George Foreman.
Hopkins’ opinion notwithstanding, the undefeated Fury still is widely viewed as boxing’s lineal heavyweight champion and will get an opportunity next week to cement himself as the best fighter in that division. Fourteen months after their controversial split draw in Los Angeles, England’s Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs) will battle Alabama’s Deontay Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) again February 22 in a highly anticipated, 12-round rematch at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Wilder floored Fury twice in their first fight, once apiece in the ninth and 12th rounds. Fury finished that December 2018 bout on his feet and beat Wilder on one scorecard at Staples Center (114-112, 111-115, 113-113).
The odds on their second bout are almost even. That fight for Wilder’s WBC heavyweight title will headline a four-fight, joint pay-per-view venture between ESPN and FOX Sports.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.