Gerry Cooney

Gerry Cooney
Gerry Cooney (right) in 2011
Data
Birth Name	Gerry Cooney
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	4th August 1956
place of birth	new York
style	Left delivery
size	2.01 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	31
Victories	28
Knockout victories	24
Defeats	3

Gerry Cooney (born August 4, 1956 in New York ) is a retired American heavyweight boxer.

Professional career

In the early 80s he was considered the famous "white hope" of the American heavyweight scene.

After 22 victories against opponents who were building up, he won early in 1980 against Jimmy Young , Ron Lyle and the former world heavyweight champion Ken Norton . At this point, however, all three were already close to the end of their careers. Nevertheless, through these victories he reached the first position in the WBC rankings and thus earned the right to challenge the WBC world champion Larry Holmes .

On June 11, 1982 there was finally a fight with Holmes in Las Vegas . In order to generate increased public interest, this encounter was marketed by the promoter Don King from the point of view of the stereotypical confrontation between the white and black boxers. That strategy worked, and the fight set a new record for spectators in Las Vegas. The sum of the stakes was also higher than ever before. In the fight, Cooney had to go to the ground in the second round, and points were deducted for three low blows in the further course. In the thirteenth round, Cooney's trainer entered the ring to have the fight abandoned. Holmes won the fight by technical knockout .

In the following five years, Cooney only played three fights. This inactivity was due, among other things, to injuries and drug problems. In 1987 he lost to Michael Spinks in the fight for the linear world championship . After another three years without a fight, he went to his last professional fight against George Foreman in 1990 , who just celebrated his comeback and lost by knockout in the second round.

Web links

• Match record