Holmes goes on the attack (Allsport).

Holmes v Cooney - Las Vegas, 1982

Great white hope Gerry Cooney went into the 1982 WBC heavyweight clash with a puncher’s chance against undefeated champion Larry Holmes.

Bookies on the Vegas Strip were going either for a late win for Holmes or an early victory for Cooney who was trying to become the first white man to hold the heavyweight championship since Ingemar Johnasson beat Floyd Patterson 33 years ago.

The Irish-American braveheart had not taken any big-name scalps leading up to the title bout but the ferocity of his victories brought comparisons with the great Sonny Liston.

Holmes, 33, had seen it all and done it all after 11 previous successful title defences stretching back to 1978.

It was clear from the start that Holmes had too much guile and class for this opponent and dropped Cooney with a right-hand in only the second hand.

He piled on the pain with a flurry of left jabs which cut Cooney below the left eye.

With just 20 seconds left of the 13th round Cooney was stranded on the ropes, finally separated from his Irish heart by the burst of concussive right hooks which Holmes had fired into his head.

Referee Mills Lane began the count when Cooney’s eccentric Puerto Rican trainer Victor Valle clambered into the ring against the rules.

He clutched his fighter around the chest announcing he was not going to let his boy take any more.

Holmes said afterwards: “I didn’t see Gerry Cooney as a white man.

"He was just another human being who was trying to knock my head off.”