Gerry Cooney is a retired Irish-American professional heavyweight boxer from Huntington, New York. 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 creditably before his corner retired him in round 13, and was regarded as having made a brave and determined effort. He was also sportsmanlike, stepping back after inflicting a low blow that might have been followed up with a contest-ending left to Holmes's jaw by a less scrupulous fighter, though such gentlemanly conduct was seen as typical of his general lack of professional instincts. A view of him as tactically naive in defence was reinforced when former light-heavyweight Michael Spinks defeated Cooney in five rounds. In his final bout, he demonstrated his exceptionally hard punch by staggering 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. 

August 4th, 1956 in Manhattan (Age 68)