gerry cooney and rocky balboa. two great white hopes sharing the cover of the nation's most important news magazine. even though holmes was the champion, even though holmes was 39-0, this fight was all about cooney. this fight was all about the white challenger. just in case the public didn't understand the fight was about race, don king, a man baz sabou sutsle as his hair put it out nice and clear. this is a black and white fight. this is about race. cooney was very clear. he said this has nothing to do with race. i'm not fighting holmes to redeem the white race. it's not what this fight is about. but promoters talked about race every chance they could. they knew this would sell tickets, sell interest. larry holmes got so tired of all the talk of race all the talk about cooney being this great white hope. he was being interviewed at a press conference. he snapped and said gerry cooney is the great white hoax. i'm better than he is. the only reason he's here is because he is white. you know it, i know it, everybody