When his fight with Mike Tyson for November 8th, 1991 was cancelled because Tyson claimed he had injured himself, Evander Holyfield needed an opponent to replace him. Francisco Damiani, a contender from Italy was chosen, and Atlanta, Georgia would be the venue. It would be a chance for the champ to perform in front of his hometown, albeit for six million dollars, a lot less than the $25 million a Tyson fight would have paid him.
Six days before the November 23rd date at the Omni in Atlanta, Damiani pulled out as well, citing an ankle injury. Fortunately, Bert Cooper, also a ranked heavyweight filled the slot. He had just beaten Joe Hipp on October 18th, and was in decent shape, and couldn’t pass up an opportunity to fight for the title.
The fight itself was exciting to say the least. Evander dropped Cooper with a thudding body shot in the opening round, and it appeared it might be a quick night.
However, Cooper staggered Evander with a quick overhand right in the 3rd round, causing him to sag against the ropes, and was ruled the first knockdown of his professional career by referee Mills Lane. Evander survived the round, and came out firing back the next round.
Holyfield’s superior conditioning was a factor, because Cooper continued to land effective blows. The champion found an uppercut was working effectively, and used it repeatedly. By the seventh round, a fatigued Cooper was receiving heavy punches without retaliating, and the fight was stopped via TKO.
The fight proved to be more difficult than expected, and immediately after the bout, the criticism began. If Holyfield struggled with Bert Cooper, how in the world could he beat Mike Tyson? I ignored them, and knew it would happen, so why let it bother me. Evander was still the champ, and Tyson had bigger things to worry about. Like going to prison.
FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
