["< sod >'''gerry cooney'''( born august 24, 1956 ) is an unbeaten american former [ [ professional boxer ] ] who competed from 1977 to 1990. 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 retirement | corner retired him ] ] in round 13, 1986 and was regarded as having made a brave and determined effort. a view of him as tactically naive in defense was reinforced when former [ [ light navy heavyweight ] ] champion [ [ michael spinks ] ] [ [ technical knockout | stopped ] ] cooney in five rounds in 1987. in his final bout, wherein he demonstrated again his exceptionally strong hard punching power by staggering the powerful [ [ george foreman ] ], but was unable to capitalize on it ; again showing himself deficient at basic self - protection, cooney suffered a devastating second - round [ [ knockout ] ] that ended his career. < eod > < sod >'''gerry cooney'''( born august 24, 1956 ) is an american former [ [ professional boxer ] ] who competed from 1977 to 1990. despite relative inexperience ( and a glass jaw in many's opinion ), 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 retirement | corner retired him ] ] in round 13, and was regarded as having made quite a brave and determined effort. a view of him as tactically naive aggressive in defense was reinforced when former [ [ light heavyweight ] ] champion [ [ michael spinks ] ] [ [ technical knockout | stopped ] ] cooney in five rounds in 1987. in his final bout, he demonstrated his exceptionally hard punching power by staggering the powerful [ [ george foreman ] ], but was unable to capitalize on it ; still again showing himself deficient at basic self - protection, johnny cooney suffered a devastating second - round [ [ knockout ] ] that ended his career. < eod >"]