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Nearly 40 years ago, Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney battled in one of the most anticipated heavyweight title fights, a meeting that divided fans across racial lines.
Today, they are good friends.
“We didn’t care about black and white,” Holmes said Sunday in Howard Beach at a celebration of the June 1982 meeting. “It didn’t matter. We cared about each other.”
The “Easton Assassin” was 39-0 with 29 knockouts heading into the fight but Holmes failed to gain a large audience following the reign of Muhammad Ali and a thrashing of the beloved Ali in 1980 didn’t help his popularity.
“I came along at the right time,” Cooney said.
The challenger, who grew up in Huntington, was 25-0 with 22 knockouts but critics pointed out victories against past-their-prime opponents Jimmy Young, Ron Lyle and Ken Norton. But the challenger labeled “The Great White Hope” signed on for $10 million, the same Holmes received. He was on the cover of Time Magazine with Sylvester Stallone as “Rocky III” was being released around the same time.
Don King, Holmes’ promoter, and Dennis Rappaport and Mick Jones, Cooney’s managers, fanned racial flames in the lead up to the fight. Holmes brought in the Rev. Jesse Jackson to ease the tension as the fight drew closer. The fight was scheduled for March and pushed back because of a Cooney shoulder injury. He hadn’t fought since his May 1981 win over Norton and had also spent time drinking and partying, the opposite of Holmes.
It was on a steamy Friday night the fighters met at Caesars Palace for the WBC championship. In a breaking of tradition the champion was introduced first. There was also a phone installed in Cooney’s dressing room for President Ronald Reagan to call if he won.
All of the hype and ugliness went out the window when it was time to touch gloves and the champion told the challenger “Let’s have a good fight.” And a good fight it was.
“It was magic, him and me together,” Cooney said at Sunday’s event hosted by Veterans Boxing Association of New York and Ring 8 at Russo’s On The Bay. The conventional wisdom was that if there was an early knockout it would likely be Holmes going down but a strong right sent Cooney to the canvas in Round 2.
The two fought close for most of the night, though Cooney would lose three points on low blows.
“[He hit] behind the head, side of the head, below the belt,” Holmes said, poking fun at the “Gentleman’ Gerry Cooney nickname. “He turned out to be a nice guy.”
Holmes won it in the 13th round, as Cooney hit the canvas and trainer Victor Valle threw in the towel to protect his fighter even as the challenger got up.
Months after the fight, Holmes ran into a depressed Cooney in Atlantic City. The champion encouraged him to get past the loss and a friendship started. Cooney, who has been sober since the late 1980s, fought five more times and retired in 1990. Holmes fought on and off until his retirement in 2002. The two talked about a rematch for charity in early 2020, but plans were scrapped.
Through all the twists and turns, they will always be linked because of one night in Nevada.
“A lot of people thought I was going to lose,” Holmes said. “And I fooled them.”
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