Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney DUAL SIGNED WBC heavyweight title action shot 8" x 10" photo.

Condition mint

11th June 1982, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.

Holmes W TKO 13
Larry Holmes vs. Gerry Cooney was a fight that took place on June 11, 1982. It was one of the most highly anticipated fights of the early 1980s, if not of all of boxing's history.

Larry Holmes had been the WBC world Heavyweight champion since 1978, when he beat Ken Norton by a fifteen round split decision at the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. He had beaten the challenges of such fighters (among others) as Ossie Ocasio, Mike Weaver, Trevor Berbick. Leon Spinks and, most notably, Muhammad Ali. The fact that Holmes stopped the legendary Ali in eleven rounds did not help his popularity with boxing fans as Ali was very past his prime. Ali did not even relativley present the speed, reflexes, or even strength of earlier days.

Gerry Cooney, on the other hand, had been a professional fighter since the late 1970s, and he was able to beat boxers such as Jimmy Young and others. The turning point of his career came when he beat Ken Norton, in May 1981, by knockout in round one at the Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Anticipation over a Holmes-Cooney confrontation began to take shape in early 1981, but the fight took over a year to happen, partly because 1981 in particular was a very busy year for boxing with many other big fights, partly because Holmes was obliged to defend against Berbick, Spinks and Renaldo Snipes in that order. Cooney only had one fight in 1981, against Norton. Holmes-Cooney was originally scheduled for March 1982, but was postponed until June when Cooney injured his back in training.

By 1982, promoter Don King began one of the most massive and racially toned campaigns in boxing history to raise public interest for a fight between Holmes and Cooney. After they were both signed to fight, an intense promotional tour followed. Holmes and Cooney attended press conferences at several U.S. cities, Cooney was shown on the cover of Time magazine, Hollywood stars took an interest in the fight (Sylvester Stallone in particular hung out with Gerry Cooney, others, such as Woody Allen, attended the fight live) and Cooney was cast as "The Great White Hope". There had not been a White world Heavyweight champion in 22 years, and Cooney would try to change that. White supremacist groups had announced they would have "agents" ready to shoot at Holmes the moment he entered the ring, and Black groups retaliated by answering that they would also have armed people on hand in case Holmes was attacked. Because of this, there were police snipers on the roofs of every major hotel surrounding the fight's venue, once again, the Caesars Palace hotel and casino. Snipers were used because the fight was held at the hotel's parking lot; any attacker could have been easily shot by police snipers.

The fight was televised live on closed-circuit and pay-per-view television all over the world. A week after the bout, it was re-broadcast on HBO, and later still, on ABC-TV.

Wilfredo Gomez knocked out Juan Antonio Lopez in ten rounds to retain his WBC world Jr. Featherweight title in the semi-final fight, and Holmes and Cooney then took centerstage without any incidents. Holmes versus Cooney was refereed by Mills Lane. The announcer that night named Holmes first. This was unprecedented; it is tradition in boxing that the challenger be named first and the champion last. The announcement was considered shameful and intensely disrespectful toward the champion Holmes by the boxing community. Nevertheless, when the boxers touched gloves before the first round began, Holmes told Cooney, "Let's have a good fight."

Holmes dropped Cooney in round two, but Cooney got up and landed a damage causing shot to the body by the end of round four. By Holmes' own account, he felt lucky that punch landed close to the end of that round. Holmes and Cooney fought closely from rounds five to eight, trading punches in mid-ring. This was the point where Cooney's inactivity started affecting him, however, and Holmes again dropped the championship hopeful in round nine. By round ten, Cooney's punches began landing low, and this caused him to fall further behind on the judges' scorecards, referee Lane deducting three points from him for the infractions.

By round thirteen, Cooney seemed to believe that he would lose the fight and was just trying to last the fifteen round distance. He had suffered a cut on his left eye and was taking heavy punishment. Midway through the round, a Holmes cross landed flush on Cooney's left cheek, and Cooney's legs buckled. He landed against the ropes, near his corner, and Holmes moved in, intent on finishing his job. Cooney's trainer, Victor Valle, prevented him from doing so, however, by throwing a towel from Cooney's corner, signifying that they were quitting. It should be clarified, however, that Cooney did not quit, his corner did that for him.

Cooney later apologized to his fans during the ensuing press conference, for what he viewed as a let-down from his part.

Cooney had a series of problems after this fight, and he fought sporadically until 1990, when he retired for good after being knocked out in two rounds by George Foreman. Holmes, on the other hand, was Heavyweight champion until he lost his belt to Michael Spinks in 1985. He retired in 1986, but has made several comebacks since.

A documentary about this fight was shown in 2003 by HBO, Barry Tompkins, one of the fight's announcers, saying that the atmosphere for that fight was uncommon. The fight itself became what was, at that time, the highest grossing boxing event in history.

Holmes and Cooney are now very good friends, and Holmes has helped Cooney with Cooney's organization, F.I.S.T., which helps former boxers get other jobs and medical insurance after they retire.

Price: £55

Larry Holmes vs Gerry Cooney

Larry Holmes born on November 3, 1949 in Cuthbert, Georgia. Holmes and his family relocated to Easton, Pennsylvania in 1956 where he began boxing at the local PAL.

As an amateur, Holmes compiled a 19-3 record and advanced to the 1972 Olympic Trails. He turned pro in 1973 and gained valuable experience while sparring with heavyweight champions Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. A win over hard-punching Earnie Shavers (W 12) garnered Holmes a WBC title go with Ken Norton on June 9, 1978. In one of the great heavyweight title bouts of all-time, Holmes won the title via 15-round decision. Behind his signature left jab, an impressive string of seventeen defences followed, including wins over Mike Weaver, Shavers, Scott LeDoux, Muhammad Ali, Leon Spinks, Trevor Berbick, “Tex” Cobb and a much-hyped bout with Gerry Cooney.

In 1982, The Ring magazine named Holmes “Fighter of the Year.” He relinquished the WBC strap in 1983 and accepted recognition from the newly formed International Boxing Federation (IBF) as champion. Three successful title defences followed (TKO 12 James “Bonecrusher” Smith, KO 10 David Bey, and W 15 Carl “The Truth” Williams) before losing the title to Michael Spinks (L 15) on September 21, 1985. Following a disputed loss (L 15) in the rematch, Holmes retired.

He returned to the ring to challenge for the title three times, against Mike Tyson in 1988 (TKO by 4), Evander Holyfield in 1992 (L12) and Oliver McCall in 1995 (L12). In 2002 Holmes hung up the gloves for good with a 69-6 (44 KOs) record.

A successful businessman, Holmes owns and operates a variety of business ventures in Easton.












Gerry Cooney (born August 4, 1956) From Huntington, New York best known for his loss to Larry Holmes in one of the most celebrated boxing matches in history.

Life Before Boxing
Born into a blue collar Irish-American 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.

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

Cooney trained at the Huntington Athletic Club in Long Island, New York where his trainer was John Capobianco, Sr. His amateur record consisted of 55 wins and 3 losses.

When he turned professional, Cooney signed with co-managers Mike Jones and Dennis Rappaport. He was then trained by Victor Valle Sr.

Professional Career
Known for his big left-hook and his imposing size, the tall, lean Cooney had his first paid fight on February 15, 1977, beating Billy Jackson by a knockout in one round. Nine wins followed and Cooney gained attention as a future contender. He moved up a weight class and fought future world cruiserweight champion S.T. Gordon in Las Vegas, winning by a fourth round disqualification. Cooney had 11 more wins, spanning 1978 and 1979. Among those he defeated were Charlie Polite, former US heavyweight champion Eddie Lopez, and Tom Prater.

By 1980, Cooney was being featured on national television. He beat title challengers Jimmy Young and Ron Lyle, both by knockout. By now he was ranked number 1 by the WBC and eager for a match with champion Larry Holmes.

In 1981, he defeated former world heavyweight champion Ken Norton by a knockout just 54 seconds into the first round, which broke the record set in 1948 by Lee Savold for the quickest knockout in a main event in Madison Square Garden.

The following year, Holmes agreed to fight him. With a purse of ten million dollars for the challenger, it was the richest fight in boxing history to that time. The promotion of the fight took on racial overtones that were exaggerated by the promoters, something Cooney did not agree with. He believed that skill, not race, should determine if a boxer was good. However, if Cooney won, he would have become the first Caucasian world heavyweight champion since Swede Ingemar Johansson defeated Floyd Patterson 23 years earlier. This caused Don King to label Cooney "The Great White Hope." The bout drew attention worldwide, and Larry Holmes vs. Gerry Cooney was one of the biggest closed-circuit/pay-per-view productions in history, broadcast to over 150 countries.

Cooney fought bravely after he was knocked down briefly in the second round. But after 12 rounds, the more skillful and experienced Holmes finally wore him down. In round 13, Cooney's trainer stepped into the ring to save his fighter from further punishment.

After a long layoff, Cooney fought in September 1984, beating Phillip Brown by a 4th round knockout in Anchorage, Alaska. He fought once more that year and won, but personal problems kept him out of the ring.

Cooney was far past his prime when he made an ill advised comeback against former world heavyweight and world light heavyweight champion Michael Spinks. Spinks knocked him out in round 5. Cooney's last fight was in 1990. He was knocked out in two rounds by former world champion George Foreman. Cooney did stagger Foreman in the first round, but he was simply overmatched.

Cooney compiled a professional record of 28 wins and 3 losses, with 24 knockouts. He is ranked number 53 on Ring Magazine's list of "100 Greatest Punchers of All Time".

Boxing Style
Cooney had an orthodox style, with a good jab, a big-left, and a seldom used right. Most of his fights ended in quick knockouts; while this benefited him in the beginning of his career, it left him unprepared for his fight with Larry Holmes. Despite his devastating punching power, Cooney's moderate stamina and lack of experience proved to be his downfall. Many feel he had real potential, but was limited by his lack of experience.

Cooney's left-hook is described as one of the most powerful punches in boxing history. Foreman, Holmes, and Lyle all stated that Cooney's left was the hardest they had ever taken. It is also notable that Holmes had also previously fought Earnie Shavers, and at the time stated Shavers had the most powerful blow he had ever received. But Shavers had lost by a 6th round TKO to Ron Lyle, while Cooney finished him off in the first round.

Cooney was known for not throwing punches at the head, aiming instead for his opponent's chest, ribs, or stomach.

Present Life
Cooney founded the Fighters' Initiative for Support and Training, an organization which helps retired boxers find jobs. He has always tried to distance himself from the racism of the Holmes vs. Cooney match promotion. He and Holmes have become very good friends over the years. Cooney is also heavily involved with J.A.B., the first union for boxers. He became a boxing promoter for title bouts featuring Roberto Duran, Hector Camacho, and George Foreman. Cooney is a supporter with of the "Hands are not for hitting" program, which tries to prevent domestic violence.

Gerry Cooney now resides in Fanwood, New Jersey with his wife Jennifer and their three children. He has been inducted into the Hall of Fame at Walt Whitman High School, where he graduated.