Ask Gerry Cooney – February 3rd, 2016

Our first question comes from Pauly F. who asks:

Gerry, who would you say is the fighter that will now step up and replace Floyd Mayweather Jr. as the man to beat?

And Gerry answered the following questions on last week’s show.

Our next question came from Bobby L. who asked:

Gerry, what does Deontay Wilder have to do to get the respect I feel he deserves as the Heavyweight champion? After he destroyed Artur Szpilka in last week’s fight, I’m still seeing posts on the Internet about how Szpilka was getting to him, making Wilder look bad, which is something I don’t agree with at all. So what’s up with that?

Gerry did not agree that Wilder “destroyed” Szpilka. He felt that Szpilka was doing fine and got caught with a good shot. He did point out, however, that knockout does highlight the type of power that Wilder does have.

Our next question came from Tim T. who asked:

Gerry, I think having weigh-ins the day before a fight can give an unfair advantage to someone who drastically dehydrates themselves to make weight. If someone who is a natural welterweight, for instance, has to face someone who dehydrates to make that weight and then rehydrates and gains 15 to 20 pounds the day of the fight, the natural welterweight ends up facing someone that has no business being in that weight class. I think this is a very dangerous practice and I’m wondering why it’s allowed?

Gerry pointed out that draining the fluid from a fighter and then quickly rehydrating right after the weigh-in could possibly cause serious damage to a fighter especially by draining the fluid that surrounds the brain. Gerry is going to try and speak with Dr. Bennet Brown to get further information on the dangers involved in this practice.

Allan Scotto can be reached at boxingriter@aol.com.

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