January 2002 - July 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

Cooney's "great" loss to Larry Holmes. As ignorant as I am about boxing, Angelo,
I remember Kenny Norton losing a close decision to Holmes (some people thought
Norton won). I remember Mike Weaver staggering Larry Holmes and almost dropping
him a few times, before he lost. Renaldo Snipes came close, he dropped Holmes
and almost stopped him. Ernie Shavers, dropped Holmes and almost stopped him.
Michael Spinks won 2 questionable decisions over Holmes. When I compare
Cooney's fight with Holmes to the ones I just mentioned, Cooney's LOSS does not
impress me. I remember Larry Holmes saying something to the effect before his
fight with Cooney that, "Cooney was the great white Hope for a lot of dopes".
Ironically, there are still a lot of dopes around. What made Holmes a
great fighter was the hunger in his belly, he would rather die than lose.
Cooney never had this hunger. He preferred the soft easy way. Fight a
lightheavyweight (Spinks), so he gets knocked out. Fight a fat old man
(Foreman) so he gets knocked out. Cooney had a glass jaw, his handlers
knew this and they covered it up by creating the biggest hype job on the public
since Primo Carnera was fighting. I have yet to read any of the Cooney defenders
on this site write about how Cooney ripped off the public and his "loyal" fans.
Cooney admits throughout his career he was drinking and drugging, that being the
case he never gave 100% of himself. Yet many people on this site pretend as if
he did. He was never in shape for a fight that went beyond 8 rounds. I
remember Cooney's early fights when he had "Mom-Dad", written on his trunks.
Then for many years afterwards he blames his father for his "cruel" up bringing.
I remember early in Cooneys career he used to come into the ring before his
fights with a midget dressed as a leprechaun. And you expect me to take him
serious.One more note Angelo, if you and Cunningham chose to be rude to
people on this site by talking about a persons ignorance... Fine, but I for one
will respond in kind.|
|7/22/03 05:12:36 AM|Paul|Sydney||Australia||||10|Forest got it right. To me,
Cooney was a lot like Frank Bruno in that neither was a warrior in the sense of
a Frazier, Ali, Holmes, Jerry Quarry, or even Oscar Bonavena. Watching Cooney
and Bruno fight, I often got the impression that they never really wanted to be
in the ring. I think that boxing was the means to a good financial future for
them, where as Ali and the others craved boxing greatness, lived to fight other
great boxers, and craved the adulation and excitement that being in the ring
brought them. And even if Cooney and Bruno had the will to win that the others
had, I still don't think that they had the skills to rise to a champion's level.
Additionally, in Cooney's case, he lacked athleticism and was too awkward to
have the superb timing and balance of a great fighter. I think that Cooney and
Bruno were happy enough just to be contenders. They were undoubtedly very good
contenders, but nothing more.|
|7/22/03 07:33:52 AM|John Gerard|NYC||rock289z@yahoo.com||||10|When all is said
and critiqued, the bottom line is that Cooney had a glass jaw and the only top
rated fighter he ever beat who in or at least near his prime was Jimmy Young. He
had brilliant management and a good left hook. He had a stiff, almost Euripean
style, no head movement, and no abilit to duck at all. The Spinks fight told us
everything we need to know about Cooney. Like I said, I think it was the Daily
News that covered the Foreman fight by starting out with the line "Gerry Cooney
finally met an old man he couldn't beat up"|
|7/22/03 08:42:04 AM|bob mladinich|new york||rmladinich@aol.com||||10|I am a
boxing journalist who is trying to locate an e-mail address or contact number
for Robert Quarry. Any help would be greatly appreciated. |
|7/22/03 08:48:23 AM|JIMMY DORSEY|VENTURA
CALIFORNIA||RONNYRAINS@YAHOO.COM||||10|FOREST,Changing the subject on
Cooney,although I have to show my Respect for Mike Tyson,I do not care if he was
a 100-1 underdog,He would still have a "PUNCHERS CHANCE" against any of the all
time greats! As at one-time he was portrayed,And,I once mentioned he missed 6
top ten "PUNCHERS" WITHERSPOON,MOORER,MERCER,MORRISON,FOREMAN,AND ESPECIALLY A