Gerry Cooney

At 68 years old, Gerry Cooney has this physical status:

Gerald Arthur Cooney (born August 4, 1956) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 1990, and challenged twice for world heavyweight titles in 1982 and 1987.

Early years

Born into a blue collar Irish-Catholic family on Long Island, Cooney was encouraged to become a professional fighter by his father. His brother Tommy Cooney was also a boxer, and reached the finals of the New York Golden Gloves Sub-Novice Heavyweight division. Cooney's grandparents lived in Placentia, Newfoundland, in Canada.

Life after boxing

Cooney founded the Fighters' Initiative for Support and Training, an organization which helps retired boxers find jobs. He did not encourage the racist tilt of promotion of the Holmes vs. Cooney match and became good friends with his former rival Holmes in the years afterward.

Cooney is deeply involved in J.A.B., the first union for boxers. He became a boxing promoter for title bouts featuring Roberto Durán, Héctor Camacho, and George Foreman. Cooney is a supporter of the "hands are not for hitting" program, which tries to prevent domestic violence. He guides young fighters in the gym.

In June 2010, Cooney became the co-host of "Friday Night at the Fights" on SIRIUS XM Radio.

Cooney resides in Fanwood, New Jersey, with his wife Jennifer and two of their three children, Jackson and Sarah. His son Chris resides in New York.

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Amateur career

Gerry Cooney, an amateur, has won international tournaments in England, Wales, and Scotland, as well as the New York Golden Gloves titles. He won two Golden Gloves Championships in New York, the 1973 160-lb Sub-Novice Championship, and the 1976 Heavyweight Open Championship. Cooney defeated Larry Derrick to win the 1973 160-lb Sub-Novice title, and Earl Tripp was the 1976 Heavyweight Open champion. In 1975, he reached the finals of the 175-lb Open division, but Johnny Davis defeated him.

Cooney trained at the Huntington Athletic Club in Long Island, New York, where his mentor, John Capobianco, was John Capobianco. He had a 55 victories and three losses in his amateur career.

Cooney signed co-managers Mike Jones and Dennis Rappaport as a young professional. Victor Valle conditioned him.

Professional career

Lean Cooney, who is best known for his big left-hook and his imposing stature, won his first paid fight on February 15, 1977, defeating Billy Jackson in a single round. Nine victories followed, and Cooney earned praise as a future contender, but opponents were selective. He took up a weight class and met future world cruiserweight champion S. T. Gordon in Las Vegas, winning by a fourth round disqualification. Cooney has won 11 more times since 1978 to 1979. Charlie Polite, former US heavyweight champion Eddie Lopez, and Tom Prater were among those he defeated. These were not rated candidates, however.

By 1980, Cooney was on national television. He beat Jimmy Young and Ron Lyle, both by 'knockouts,' as he stepped up.' Young's youth battle was suspended due to budget cuts. By then, Cooney was ranked number 1 by the WBC and eager for a match against champion Larry Holmes.

He defeated former world heavyweight champion Ken Norton by a knockout just 54 seconds into the first round, with a blisteringly fast attack. In 1948, Lee Savold set the fastest knockout in a main event in Madison Square Garden tied for the first time. Cooney did not fight for 13 months after defeating Norton because his leadership team was unwilling to risk losing a big future pay day with Holmes by allowing him to face another credible fighter.

Holmes decided to fight him in a 1982 match. It was the richest fight in boxing history to date, with a purse of ten million dollars for the challenger. The fight's racial overtones were exaggerated by the promoters, which Cooney did not agree with. He believed that a boxer's talent, not race, would determine if a boxer was good. However, if Cooney wins, he would have become the first Caucasian world heavyweight champion after Swede Ingemar Johansson defeated Floyd Patterson 23 years ago. "The Great White Hope" was Don King's nickname. Larry Holmes vs. Gerry Cooney was one of the first closed-circuit/pay-per-view films in history, attracting over 150 nations.

After being knocked down for a brief time in the second round, Cooney fought vainly. He was fined three points for repeating low blows. The more skilled and experienced Holmes finally wore him down after 12 rounds. Victor Valle, Cooney's manager, leapt into the ring, causing the referee to call off the match. If it wasn't for the point deductions, two of the three judges would have had Cooney ahead of the 12th round. After the war, Holmes and Cooney became best friends, a friendship that endured for them. In a four-round match, Cooney defeated Harold Rice, Connecticut's heavyweight champion, on December 14, 1982. The winner was not announced, so Cooney informed the audience: "This is only an exhibition." If I offended anyone, I'm sorry. I'm trying to get back to health so I can knock out Larry Holmes. Everything is fine. I got a little rusty, but that is normal. It's been a while. "I felt secure in front of the crowd."

Cooney fought in September, 1984, defeating Phillip Brown in the fourth round at Anchorage, Alaska, after a long layoff. He fought twice more this year and gained, but personal circumstances kept him out of the competition.

Despite the fact that Cooney had only competed in three years since his death to Holmes, he fought former world heavyweight and world light heavyweight champion Michael Spinks in 1987 in a championship match. In round 5, Cooney came out of his prime and Spinks, boxing extremely with regular sharp counters. In 1990, Cooney's last fight was recorded. In two rounds by former world champion George Foreman, he was knocked out in a match-up of power-punching veterans. In the first round, Cooney did stagger Foreman, but he was overmatched, and Foreman knocked him out two minutes into the second round.

Holmes, Spinks, and Foreman exposed Cooney's Achilles' heel: his inability to clinch and tie up his opponents when hurt. He risen from a second-round knockdown and stood in the middle of the fight as Foreman delivered the coup de grâce.

Cooney held a professional record of 28 victories and three losses, with 24 knockouts. In a 12 or 15-round match, no one of his fights ever went the distance. On the Ring's list of "The 100 Greatest Punchers of All Time," he ranks number 53.

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