Foreman Stops Cooney in 2nd Round : Boxing: Now he wants a chance to fight unbeaten heavyweight champion Tyson.

Gerry Cooney finally ran into an old man he could not beat.

Break out the ham hocks and corn bread and wash it down with a Geritol toast. George Foreman, the 41-year-old, elephantine country preacher who had become the biggest joke in the heavyweight division, had the last laugh Monday night. But nobody else is laughing now. In a devastating performance, Foreman battered Cooney and left him face down on the canvas, out cold, after less than five minutes of fighting. Now, even Cooney and his trainer, Gil Clancy, think the “geezer” should be taken seriously against Mike Tyson.

“Tyson won’t be that difficult,” Foreman said. “The question is: Is Mike Tyson willing to fight George Foreman?”

The end for Cooney came at 1:57 of the second round, after a Foreman left uppercut followed by a right to the head starched Cooney, who went down seconds earlier from a big right-left combination. Cooney got up the first time, but the second time he never moved as referee Joe Cortez waved the fight over without a count.

It was a crushing defeat for Cooney, 33, who had not fought since being knocked out by Michael Spinks in the same ring more than two years ago. Afterward, a relaxed and smiling Cooney announced his retirement yet again. But this time, he insisted, he means it.

“I guess that’s all she wrote,” said Cooney, comparatively unmarked except for some redness around the eyes and nose. “No more fights. There won’t be any more comebacks for me.”

For Foreman, the lead foil in the bout officially dubbed “The Preacher and the Puncher” and, unofficially, “Two Geezers at Caesars,” the fight was a rebirth, the crowning achievement of a comeback that has reached 20 wins and counting. According to sources, Foreman is likely to fight World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion Francesco Damiani in Rome this spring, but a showdown with Tyson can’t be far off.

“I think George Foreman has a puncher’s chance against anybody,” Cooney said.

Clancy went even further.

“You have to give George Foreman a chance against Tyson based on this fight,” Clancy said. “You know he’s more effective against shorter guys. I think George fooled everyone tonight.”

Cooney got bad news in the first round, when he scored well with sharp jabs and several solid left hooks that drew not even a blink from Foreman. A pair of Foreman jabs sent Cooney’s mouthpiece flying. And although one Cooney hook knocked Foreman slightly off balance late in the round, it was obvious that Foreman, at 253 1/4 pounds, was the much stronger man, bulling Cooney into the ropes and whacking away with his right hand to the ribs, the punch he said before the fight would neutralize Cooney’s left hook.

“The most important punch was the lead right hand,” Foreman said. “I used it almost like a jab.”

Cooney’s punches seemed to lack snap in the second round, and even when he landed cleanly, the plodding Foreman walked right through him. A Foreman right to the head backed Cooney off, and a one-two, two right uppercuts and a left hook-right hand combination, had Cooney staggering. Foreman stepped inside and, showing surprising speed, landed five punches--right-left-right-left-right--on Cooney’s head, sending him down on his back.

“I’ve never seen more accurate punching than George did in that sequence,” Clancy said. “He landed five clean punches. Not even Sugar Ray Leonard does that.”

Cooney rolled over, got to his knees and faced his corner, shaking his head. He pulled himself up, using the ropes, at six. But Foreman landed a very unpreacherly left uppercut to the chin, followed by an unholy right to the jaw. Cooney, on his way down face first between punches, was not counted over by Cortez, who immediately waved the fight over. Cooney remained down several minutes, but was smiling and nearly unmarked when he left the ring.