It’s Spinks vs. Cooney Tonight, and Non-Title Bout Leaves Fans Cold

Two heavyweights, performing on a kind of musical undercard to the so-called War at the Shore, packed the house the other night. This, despite the fact that both Joe Frazier and Larry Holmes carried fighters in their day lots better than they carried tunes.

How to account for their box-office punch? How to account, on the other hand, for the surprising lack of it for tonight’s main, non-singing event? Would people rather pay to see Frazier and Holmes sing badly, as they did in a casino lounge Saturday night, than to watch Gerry Cooney and Michael Spinks fight well?

To judge by the advance sales at closed-circuit locations, they would. It is baffling. But perhaps it has to do with the fact that Frazier and Holmes, who hit chins with more accuracy than they hit notes, were regarded as heavyweight champions. Spinks and Cooney were not, are not, perhaps never will be.

Here on the boardwalk, hard by the taffy stands and T-shirt shops, the excitement is something less than palpable. Tickets to the Convention Center have been snapped up by the high rollers, and casino execs are bragging about their new “marketing tool.” But the excitement apparently does not extend beyond the casino floor.

Just past the bombed-out ghetto, the real Atlantic City that’s hidden by the shiny facade of beachfront casinos, is Philadelphia and a world of indifference. The closed-circuit distributor there said he was “dumbfounded” by the fight’s lack of appeal. Reports of similar indifference roll in from across the country. In Detroit, they pulled the show out of Joe Louis Arena when they could sell no more than 16 tickets.

Promoters misjudged badly. Cooney’s mysterious appeal, that of a white puncher, inspired a gate of more than $30 million for his challenge of Holmes in 1982. As he remains white and a puncher, as well--as an 86-second destruction of Eddie Gregg last year reminded us--it was thought that appeal was intact. Promoter Butch Lewis reports that a closed-circuit distributor in the South has a promotional tape that advises fans to “be there for the pride of their race.” But nothing sells Cooney any more. Seven rounds in five years do not qualify even a white heavyweight with a left hook for contention.

Similarly, promoters misread Spinks’ attraction. Rather, they thought he had some. Although regarded as a wonderful light-heavyweight champion, he received surprisingly little credit for bulking up and becoming a heavyweight champion. His fight with an over-the-hill Holmes is still regarded as a controversial decision, immortalized by Holmes’ rap song, “Boxing Politics.” The fact that Spinks was stripped of the International Boxing Federation title for scheduling a Cooney fight ahead of a Tony Tucker defense, is not what has damaged his credibility. He had little to begin with.

Then, too, there is the Mike Tyson factor. Even though just 20 years old, Tyson, with his continued activity and ring excitement, has come to be thought of as the heavyweight champion. He has already consolidated two of the titles--those bestowed by the World Boxing Assn. and the World Boxing Council--and expects to annex the third later this summer. To avoid Tyson, which Cooney and Spinks have done with some difficulty, is to avoid the only fight the public wants.

It has been, obviously, a promotional bungle all the way around. And Lewis’ insistence that both fighters will make more money fighting each other--$4 million for Spinks, $2.5 million for Cooney--than for fighting Tyson is probably not true. That said, the fight does have a certain amount of intrigue, although apparently not enough to make people dig into their pockets.

Can Spinks, who has never been inside a ring with a heavyweight who was in his prime, stand up to Cooney’s massive left hook, a liver-quivering punch that has helped still 24 of his 29 opponents? Cooney weighed in at 238 pounds Sunday, 13 more than for Holmes. He has gotten bigger and stronger, adding to the only real dimension he brings to the ring. That he hardly ever fights, or otherwise hones his skills, is irrelevant to the kind of fight he makes.

On the other hand, can Cooney land on Spinks? Spinks is characterized by frustrated opponents as “unorthodox,” which is code for “Where in the world was he?” He is primarily a defensive fighter, moving from side to side, taking strange angles on his opponent. The former Olympic champion explains, in his usual candor: “I can dish it out but I can’t take it.” He hardly ever has to.

And he can dish it out. His overhand right is a powerful weapon, and although at 208 he weighs 30 pounds less than Cooney, he is not outgunned. He is known as a crafty boxer, but he should be recognized for a punch as well.

But the elements of an interesting fight are apparently not persuasive enough. The Cooney backlash--fans betrayed by their fighter’s refusal to get into a ring (he has fought no more than twice a year since 1980)--and Tysonmania have rendered this something less than a closed-circuit attraction.

This fight over with, the winner can expect instant acceptance and renewed popularity. He can also expect Mike Tyson and a very large amount of money. The loser, though, gets Holmes and Frazier in a casino lounge, singing, “My Way.”

THE FACTS Who: Gerry Cooney vs. Michael Spinks.

What: 15-round heavyweight fight.

When: Tonight, 7:40 p.m. PDT.

Where: Conventin Hall, Atlantic City, N.J.

Purse: Estimated that spinks will receive $4 million and Cooney $2.5 million.

Records: Spinks 30-0, Cooney 28-1.

TV Coverage: Closed circuit or pay per view.