Gerry Cooney 🥊 Brutal Body Punching Born in Manhattan, New York, USA, Cooney is a retired American professional heavyweight boxer. Despite relative inexperience, his exciting wins and size, aided by expert promotion, propelled Cooney into a lucrative bout with world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes in 1982. Cooney performed credibly before his corner retired him in round 13, and was regarded as having made a brave and determined effort. A view of him as tactically naive in defense was reinforc