Larry Holmes vs Gerry Cooney dual signed fight poster, billed "The Pride and The Glory", 15th March 1982, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. Measuring 19" x 17".

Holmes vs Cooney was originally scheduled for March 1982, but was postponed until June when Cooney injured his back in training.

Condition mint

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: £ SOLD

Larry Holmes vs Gerry Cooney

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, NY best known for his loss to Larry Holmes in one of the largest boxing spectacles in history

Cooney was raised in a blue-collar Long Island family, and lived out his father's dream to become a professional fighter. Cooney's brother Tommy Cooney was also a boxer, and reached the finals of the New York Golden Gloves Sub-Novice Heavyweight division where he was defeated by Eric George.

As an amateur, he won international tournaments in England, Wales and Scotland as well as New York Golden Gloves titles. Cooney won two New York Golden Gloves Championships, winning both 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 he defeated Earlous Tripp to win the 1976 Heavyweight Open title. In 1975 Cooney reached the finals of the 175lb Open division but was defeated by Johnny Davis. Cooney trained at the Huntington Athletic Club in Huntington, Long Island, New York where his trainer was John Capobianco, Sr. His record consisted of 55 wins and 3 losses. When he turned professional, he signed with managers Eoin O'Sullivan and Peter Lynch. He was trained by Victor Valle Sr.

Equipped with his big left-hook and imposing size, Cooney set out on his professional career. Cooney's first paid fight came on February 15, 1977, when he beat Billy Jackson by a knockout in one round in New York. Nine more wins followed and Cooney started gaining fame as a future contender. Then he stepped up in class and fought future world cruiserweight champion S.T. Gordon in Las Vegas, winning by a fourth round disqualification. Cooney's star kept on rising with 11 more wins in a row, spanning 1978 and 1979. Among the people he beat were former victim Charlie Polite, former United States heavyweight champion Eddie Lopez, and Tom Prater.
By 1980, Cooney was already being featured on national television. He beat title challengers Jimmy Young and Ron Lyle, both by knockout. By this time, he was ranked number 1 in the WBC and challenging Larry Holmes to a fight.
In 1981, he completely annihilated former world heavyweight champion Ken Norton by a knockout 54 seconds into the first round in front of a Madison Square Garden crowd and HBO cameras.

Then 1982 came and Cooney's life changed. Holmes agreed to fight him, with a purse of ten million dollars for the challenger, making it the richest fight in boxing history up to that time. The promotion of the fight took on racial overtones that were tastelessly exaggerated by the promoters in both camps, something Cooney did not agree with, as he believed that skill, not race, should determine whether any boxer was good. Nevertheless, if Cooney won, he would be the first white world heavyweight champion in 23 years (since Swede Ingemar Johansson defeated Floyd Patterson by a third round TKO), which prompted Don King to call him "The Great White Hope." In this circus atmosphere, the upcoming fight drew huge attention worldwide. Larry Holmes vs. Gerry Cooney was one of the biggest closed-circuit/pay-per-view productions in history, broadcast to over 150 countries.
A game Cooney fought bravely after he was knocked down briefly in the second round. But after 12 rounds, the more skillful and ring-savvy Holmes wore Cooney down. In the 13th round, the challenger's trainer Victor Vallie stepped into the ring to save his fighter from further punishment.

After a long layoff, Cooney finally stepped into the ring again in September 1984, beating Phillip Brown by a knockout in 4 rounds in Anchorage, Alaska. He fought one more time that year and won, but personal problems took him away from the ring.
By 1987, Cooney was far past his prime and made an ill advised comeback to fight former world heavyweight and world light heavyweight champion Michael Spinks. He was knocked out in five rounds. Cooney's last fight was in 1990; he was knocked out in two rounds by the former world champion George Foreman. Cooney did manage to stagger Foreman in the first round of the fight advertised as "two geezers at Caesar's". Overall, Cooney compiled a professional record of 28 wins and 3 losses, with 24 knockouts. Cooney was ranked 53rd on Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.

Cooney then started the Fighters' Initiative for Support and Training, an organization which has helped retired boxers find jobs. He has always tried to distance himself from the racism of the Holmes vs. Cooney promotion. In fact, he and Holmes have become very good friends over the years. In retirement, Cooney has also been heavily involved with J.A.B., the first ever boxers union.
He is also involved with the program "Hands are not for hitting" which helps to stop domestic violence. He now resides in Fanwood, New Jersey
In the episode of the Simpsons $pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling) he is the official greeter of Mr Burns' Casino who gets punched out by Otto Mann.

Cooney was known to have an orthodox style of boxing, good jab, big-left, and a barely used right. Most of his fights ended in quick knockouts, which although benefited him tremendously in the beginning of his career, left him unprepared for his fight with Larry Holmes. Despite having devastating punching power, it was not enough to compensate for his moderate stamina and lack of experience against true contenders. Many feel he had more potential, but was limited due to the lack of experience as stated above.
Cooney's left-hook is often called one of the most powerful punches in boxing history. Foreman, Holmes, and Lyle have all stated that Cooney's blow was the hardest they had ever taken. It is also notable that Holmes had also previously fought Earnie Shavers, and at the time, stated that Shavers was the most powerful blow he had ever received. It is also notable that Earnie Shavers had lost a 6 round TKO to Ron Lyle, whereas Cooney finished him off in the first round. Cooney was also known for not typically throwing punches at the head, mainly aiming for his opponents chest, ribs, or stomach.