Where's Bert Cooper ?

[Moon]

One of the highlight fights of the 80's was Smokin' Bert Cooper's late round effort against a Prime Holyfield. Cooper had Holy a bit wobbled and was landing good shots, but burnt himself out in a late barrage. Bert disappeared from the Heavyweight scene shortly after.

Before Holyfield, the handlers of a propspect named Willy Dewitt thought Cooper would be a good journeyman test. Willy was young, big, skilled and tough, and was looking past Cooper.
Dewitt suffered a brutal loss to Cooper and never recovered. Cooper got a little pay for his efforts and went back to the States to continue as another contender.

I'd like to hear that Bert is doing OK these days, but have no news on the guy.

[MetalVomit]

One of the highlight fights of the 80's was Smokin' Bert Cooper's late round effort against a Prime Holyfield. Cooper had Holy a bit wobbled and was landing good shots, but burnt himself out in a late barrage. Bert disappeared from the Heavyweight scene shortly after.

Before Holyfield, the handlers of a propspect named Willy Dewitt thought Cooper would be a good journeyman test. Willy was young, big, skilled and tough, and was looking past Cooper.
Dewitt suffered a brutal loss to Cooper and never recovered. Cooper got a little pay for his efforts and went back to the States to continue as another contender.

I'd like to hear that Bert is doing OK these days, but have no news on the guy.

I'm Bert Cooper, I'm doing great these days, I am currently promoting the Cooper's Knockout Cheese Steak Oven, similar to George Foreman's grill. I'm doing great these days, thanks for asking! www.bertcoopergrill.com

[whdempsey]

Bert Cooper is living in Philadelphia. There is, of course, no pension for him, and he's living a fairly low-income lifestyle. A year or two back he was attacked by some thugs, and as I recall, he hurt his leg but recovered well. I can't remember whether he has a job or not.

[scap]

Smokin Bert Cooper was one of my all time favorite heavyweights. Bert took that fight with Holyfield on a couple weeks noticed and was quite possibly one right hand away from becoming the heavyweight champion. If it was not for Holy's are getting caught in the ropes he was headed to the canvas.

My favorite Bert Cooper moment was whe he fought a dude by the name of Cecil Coffee, Bert broke his nose in the first round(I think it was the first) and Coffee was on his knees with blood pouring out of his nose, it has been a while since I have seen that fight it's in the collection somewhere but the cut on the nose was like vitklit's cut against LEwis.

Thanks a million for bringing up Smokin Bert, I will have a smile on my face the rest of the time I am here at work!

[marvdave]

Smokin Bert was fun to watch. He gave me many thrills in the ring. Too bad he wasn't all there emotionally. His fights against Holy, Moorer,DeWitt and Tillman were great

[Foreman]

The Bert Cooper-Ray Mercer fight is an all time classic. Two guys just wailing away at each other. Mercer had an infected tooth before the fight and it proceeded to swell up the side of his face something bad. Imagine Rahman's knot on the side of his face, only bigger. Cooper-Moorer was great as well.

Another example of someone with skills, but just didn't have the complete package.

[dingus]

Smokin Bert was fun to watch. He gave me many thrills in the ring. Too bad he wasn't all there emotionally. His fights against Holy, Moorer,DeWitt and Tillman were great

Yeah, he had some emotional problems(wasn't he doing drugs for a while?), but when he brought himself together he put on one hell of a show. His fight with Mercer and Holyfield are among my favorites. I would have liked to see him fight Tommy Morrison.