By James Slater – “That was the heavyweight carnival to end all heavyweight carnivals,” Jerry Izenberg
It was one of the biggest boxing promotions of its day. Exactly 30 years ago this coming Monday, June 11th, 1982, heavyweight king Larry Holmes defended his fight against unbeaten Irish/American Gerry Cooney. Known for his nickname of “The Great White Hope” (a tag Gerry himself never liked) and for his lethal left hook, Cooney was on his way to becoming the next boxing superstar; in fact it could be argued he had already become so – as the star-studded audience that Las Vegas evening proved..
Movie legend Sylvester Stallone was there, as was movie and music star Frank Sinatra. While the President of the United States no less, Ronald Reagan, was all set to pipe in a call to Cooney’s dressing room if he won (this is the legend anyway, and there were supposedly no plans for Reagan to call Larry if he won). The attention this fight attracted was down to Cooney, no doubt about it. Fans and experts may have respected Holmes as a good fighter, yet he had neither the crossover appeal or the sheer popularity Cooney enjoyed.
Some good judges, who normally got their predictions right, picked Gerry to beat the defending champ. In the end, in what was an electric night at Caesars Palace, Holmes’ skill, experience and class were too much for the power, youth and aggression of Cooney. Stopping a brave Cooney in the 13th-round (when Cooney’s corner-man Victor Valle climbed into the ring to rescue his beaten fighter), 32-year-old Holmes had won the fight he simply could not afford to lose. We never knew it at the time, but the 25-year-old Cooney’s career was practically over.
Today good friends, Cooney and Holmes have nothing but respect for each other. At the time of the fight, however, spurred on by rival promoters and elements of the media who built the fight up as a “Black Vs. White” fight (“any way you look at it, it’s a black and white fight,” Don King said), the two men appeared to have genuine dislike for one another.
Holmes, angered even more when decades of tradition were trampled on and Cooney, the challenger, was announced in the ring AFTER the champion, simply said to Cooney “Let’s have a good fight” as they touched gloves. They did so.
Today Gerry is rightly proud of both the fight and his gutsy performance. Gerry thinks about the fight a lot, and he also regrets not having had more fights and picking up more experience before his big night.
“It is amazing that it’s that long ago, 30 years,” Cooney told this writer over the phone.
“We had a great night, but unfortunately I needed at least three more fights before that one. But I couldn’t get them and I did the best I could. I did the best I could with the cards I was dealt with. Had I had another year, I think I would’ve beaten him – and Larry Holmes even said that himself; that if I’d had another year to get ready I’d have beaten him. Me and he are good friends today though, and that fight was a great moment for me. I lost, but then I had to move on and get on with my life.”
Gerry recalls the tasteless nickname he was given:
“The Great White Hope” tag never bothered me. That was all bullshit! I never paid attention to any of that. That never added any pressure. That was just Don King’s doing, and his attempts to make more money. But King did affect me as a fighter, because I couldn’t get any fights because I wouldn’t sign up with him. The lack of experience in not being able to get more fights and not being able to grow and develop, that really was a big deal to me. That is definitely the biggest and most important thing I would say on the subject of what shaped me as a fighter – the lack of experience due to not having enough fights. When I KO’d Ken Norton, that was a big deal, but I wasn’t able to get another fight before going into the biggest fight of my life against Larry Holmes. Consequently, I had it in my head going in to the Holmes fight that I couldn’t go the distance, that my stamina might be lacking. I wanted to go the distance to prove wrong the people who said I couldn’t do it.”
Without a doubt, Gerry says, the Holmes fight was tougher than all the others; for various reasons:
“Let me tell you, I got messed up between my fight with Ken Norton and my fight with Larry Holmes; I got messed up with alcohol. I needed at least a year more experience. That was without a doubt the toughest night of my career but it’s also one of the fights I’m most proud of. It was a great fight, we went back and forth and it was a very close fight until the [13th-round] stoppage. But it was a very hard fight. It was 115-degrees that night in Las Vegas, and I was rusty as I hadn’t fought in 15-months. I can’t believe the Holmes fight was almost 30-years ago! Time has gone by real fast.”
Overall, Cooney has bittersweet memories of that unforgettable night from three-decades ago:
“The Holmes fight was in many ways the worst night of my boxing career, but as I said, it was also a great night in many ways. I just regret that I had to enter that fight having had so much inactivity. Taking everything into account all these years later, I definitely think that if I’d had an additional three or four fights against top guys, I’d have beaten Holmes. But I see Larry quite a lot these days and let me tell you, I’d kick his ass today – but he won’t fight me again!”