Comments Thread For: 40 Years Later, Holmes-Cooney Still Rates as a Classic

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Sentimental. Nostalgic. Maudlin. Get to a certain age and the gap between them narrows significantly. Particularly when certain milestones arrive. That was the case this past Saturday, when it was officially 40 years since the first big heavyweight fight of my boxing fan lifetime - Larry Holmes vs. Gerry Cooney for the WBC championship.
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[Roadblock]

It had loads of hype building the fight up, one of those classics that had some electricity plugged into it.. Was a good fight too.

[Bornboxingfan]

I remember the fight exactly as you mentioned it during my high school senior year. Watched fight at Queens New York,
out door big screen projector at local drive in flea market.

[Oldskoolg]

I remember that fight like it was yesterday especially the lead up to it which was the most racially charged buildup since the Ali years. I remember feeling Holmes got a raw deal because he wasn’t treated as the champion, he was treated like the villain

[Bonham77]

I remember the fight clearly too. But for other reasons. Firstly, Cooney, was set up to be the number 1 contender. He was fighting big names of the 70's fighters all way way past their primes. While Holmes was avoiding serious challenges of Big John Tate, the Mike Weaver rematch that everyone wanted, Gerrie Coetzee, Michael Dokes, Greg Page and a few others. Holmes elected to fight guys like Leroy Jones, Lucian Rodriguez, Lorenzo Zanon, Marvis Frazier , Ossie Oscasio, Alfredo Evangelista. For all you too young to know about this, yes, these names are real. With Holmes, it was the classic " bum of the month " club. His best fight was when he won the title in 1978. A very controversial decision against Ken Norton. The next year he barely escaped Earnie Shavers. Then after that, he was very very careful. Back to the Cooney fight . Cooney had a left hand, that's it. He jabbed with it and he hooked with it. He was very beatable but he was severely protected. After he lost to Holmes he got knocked silly by an ancient George Foreman and a light Heavyweight in Mike Spinks. That was it for Cooney. Holmes vs Cooney ? A pre-fabricated joke.

[dmos1128]

That fight was nothing to me LOL. Really? Maybe you should have talked about George Clooney's other fight oh I'm sorry Jerry Clooney LOL. Have you ever put on gloves are you one of those analysts you know the ones that get the jobs handed to them never been in the ring? Must be nice

[Bonham77]

I remember that fight like it was yesterday especially the lead up to it which was the most racially charged buildup since the Ali years. I remember feeling Holmes got a raw deal because he wasn’t treated as the champion, he was treated like the villain

He was that era's Floyd Mayweather. A complete fraud.

[Bonham77]

It had loads of hype building the fight up, one of those classics that had some electricity plugged into it.. Was a good fight too.

You obviously weren't a big boxing fan back then...or maybe just a casual. Boxing people knew this fight was a joke. This was " cherry picking " to the first degree. Cooney was a classic example of "white hype". And I'm white . They built Cooney up to be some monster. Cooney was fighting big name has-beens from the 70's. Faded ex challengers and he fought a totally washed up Ken Norton in 1980. As I was saying, those in the know, knew , even a fraud like Larry Holmes was going to whip this guy. And he did. Cooney did have some bright spots in the fight but all that cemented was what a fraud Holmes was. They built this fight up because they had to. Holmes wouldn't face the big guns in the division, Big John Tate, Gerrie Coetzee, Michael Dokes, Greg Page and a much deserved Mike Weaver rematch. Those were the fights the fans and the world wanted to see. Instead they fed us Cooney. Cooney was never anything . He was a hyped up contender. Never held a title. Fought for the title . Got his ass whipped and never won anything after. Just got pummeled some more. Knocked silly. You hear the term " Fight Of The Century " ??? This was " Joke Of The Century ".

[Oldskoolg]

He was that era's Floyd Mayweather. A complete fraud.

Oh, ok. Thanks for posting

[Zaroku]

You obviously weren't a big boxing fan back then...or maybe just a casual. Boxing people knew this fight was a joke. This was " cherry picking " to the first degree. Cooney was a classic example of "white hype". And I'm white . They built Cooney up to be some monster. Cooney was fighting big name has-beens from the 70's. Faded ex challengers and he fought a totally washed up Ken Norton in 1980. As I was saying, those in the know, knew , even a fraud like Larry Holmes was going to whip this guy. And he did. Cooney did have some bright spots in the fight but all that cemented was what a fraud Holmes was. They built this fight up because they had to. Holmes wouldn't face the big guns in the division, Big John Tate, Gerrie Coetzee, Michael Dokes, Greg Page and a much deserved Mike Weaver rematch. Those were the fights the fans and the world wanted to see. Instead they fed us Cooney. Cooney was never anything . He was a hyped up contender. Never held a title. Fought for the title . Got his ass whipped and never won anything after. Just got pummeled some more. Knocked silly. You hear the term " Fight Of The Century " ??? This was " Joke Of The Century ".

Nice post full of facts. I like that!