Bert Cooper vs Willie Dewitt

[@jimred5700]

I like how courteous Bert was about Willie after the fight. Class guy Bert Cooper.

[@mariosmith7232]

R.I.P Bert Cooper

[@kelvinburns4597]

What did Smokin Bert Cooper die from

[@worldview2134]

@@kelvinburns4597 yes what the hell

[@666kinski]

@@kelvinburns4597 Pancreatic cancer..Too Young just like Tommy Morrison.

[@karimtemri1664]

​@@kelvinburns4597 cancer

[@Chief2Moon]

Always liked Bert, he was in a tough era of boxing

[@kevdean9967]

He came real close to knocking out Holyfield!!!

[@investegativereports3222]

Even when Cooper lost he always put up a good fight. Tough guy.

[@teofemo7000]

I liked him too. He was in a tough era. I would have loved to see him give it a go without the drugs. He might have won the title.

[@the_Sage71]

His fights were alot of fun.

[@thewilter9568]

Dewitt should never have been fighting Cooper at this point in his career. Either it was bad management that did this or he was thrown to the wolves on purpose. lol Boxing in the 80s. Good times.

[@MrMarco855]

When Dewitt fell again at about 10:00, he looked like a runway model that took a bad step in high heels.

[@clarenceyee3529]

I went to this fight with a buddy of mine. Good thing Willie quit soon after and became a lawyer and then was appointed as a Justice to the Alberta Bench.

[@kahlilsmoot9922]

He was good....he could of bounced back...just needed to address some weaknesses....

[@patrickbrowne4606]

@@kahlilsmoot9922 You can’t “address” a weak chin! 😂😂😂

[@NemeanLion-]

That’s actually a really good success story. He was objective enough to know he wasn’t going anywhere in the sport and quickly switched gears into another successful career. Very impressive.

[@kevinkey9146]

Bert and Evander at 190 would have been even more fun.

[@patrickbrowne4606]

This was one of the most DEVASTATING displays of power in the history of the heavyweight division. Cooper completely DESTROYED Willie Dewitt.

[@NemeanLion-]

Please. Cooper has great power, but Dewit was way out of his league.

[@bobbyhulll8737]

difference between a good amateur and a good pro

[@mossranchoutdoors7249]

Loved seeing Bert,Marvis and Joe together🥊🥊🥊🥊

[@ylekiote99999]

I remember me and my brother watching DeWitt sparring with some guy at an Edmonton hotel for a promo event a year or so before this fight and his sparring partner was beating the crap out of him. I knew then that DeWitt was way overhyped.

[@Vovchanchin]

DeWitt was mismanaged and didn't have a proper pro trainer. He was a really good amateur but for whatever reason didn't think the pros were different than the amateurs.

[@markwilliamson4628]

Bert was the oldest-looking 20 year old in human history

[@unputer]

don't forget Greg Oden! Dude looked like he was ready to play in an old-timer's game the day he was drafted at 19.

[@MaysFavFootballVids]

🤣🤣🤣

[@derrickrobinson4271]

LoL

[@dquinn8344]

When he fought Holyfield at age 23 he looked 50...

[@jeremysipes44]

Nah that was Greg Odom.

[@patrickpaul7360]

For me Bert was always a cruiser,the top class heavies were all naturally too big and powerful for him. Loved his fight with Michael Moorer and if anyone here hasn't seen it,watch his fight with Henry Tillman

[@vincentfisher1603]

Bert had drug issues. He always had the power to KO the bigger guys. Joe Frazier trained Bert but could never control Bert's issues.

[@70gabino]

True. He was better at cruiserweight. That cross arm defense made him a sitting suck for a tall heavy with a good jab. Loved watching Bert.

[@duftyboxing]

Don't forget about his fight with Holyfield.

[@patrickpaul7360]

@@duftyboxing definitely

[@investigatorreports4311]

Yeah the one Bert had with Moorer was a classic. Still revisit that one from time to time.

[@MrCrystalcranium]

The Willie DeWitt School of Boxing...pat your knee after every jab.

[@jamescook4116]

What is crazy is that the trainer had to enter the ring to make sure the fight was stopped. What was that ref waiting for?!

[@kiowhatta1]

Only real boxing fans remember the heavyweight highlight reel - Bert Cooper. The Arturo Gatti of the big boys.

[@lc.c6835]

I remember this fight being a boxing fan and growing up with Ali and the 80s were the best! I followed Dewitt`s career and another Canadian hopeful Shawn O`Sullivan. It was make or break and Dewitt was ready as can be. Bert Cooper fought one of this best fights and having the legend Smokin` Joe Frazier training him! Years later I saw Willie Dewitt in a coffee shop at Stephen Ave in Calgary, AB. He still looked massive in his lawyer`s suit.

[@1966johnnywayne]

Willie has gone on to be a judge and HOLY SHIT, checked out Cooper's stats only to discover he died 2 days ago.

[@jenniferparson7492]

Yeah R I P COOP.

[@rickrick5041]

Sure DeWitt was a good fighter, got the Silver in the Olympics. At the highest level he wasn’t fast enough, didn’t have enough power, and as the announcers said dropped his hands after punching which is going to get you badly hurt unless you have great reflexes and speed

[@rudemood9403]

Willie said he realized this after the Cooper fight and retired a year later - went on to law school & is now a judge on the superior court of Alberta.

[@StuartTheunissen]

Cooper looked fantastic that night. What a pity he couldn't keep it together...

[@johnnya867]

Agree 100% . If not for his training problems and drug use he would have gotten the heavy title at some point. If he would have stayed at cruiser he would have had a good title run.

[@StuartTheunissen]

@@johnnya867 I think so too... Even with all his problems he came within a punch or two of upsetting Holyfield for the undisputed crown. If he stayed on the rails I can't imagine him not winning a belt, even in the 90s. Hey if a bum like Seldon could win a belt then a disciplined Cooper had every chance.

[@petierican6079]

Coach strout you're the number one site for classic fights I love this site thank you for sharing all that classic great boxing with us all the viewers I hope they appreciate it as much as I do

[@paulanthony5274]

I love Bert Cooper fights . Against Ray Mercer, Michael Moorer, Evander Holyfield. He's a warrior. Only fight I recall where he disappointed and quit was against Foreman. But you can't knock his courage.

[@MrMarco855]

In the 2nd round the commentators couldn't understand why Cooper was letting De Witt 'off the hook'. Cooper went back to his corner after the 1st round feeling sorry for Dewitt, in front of his home crowd no less. He knocked Dewitt down with ease and Dewitt landed his best right between Cooper's gloves and Bert hardly noticed. He didn't want to embarrass the guy it appeared to me.

[@rickrayn]

Willie later went to law school and now is a sitting judge in Alberta, Canada. He quit boxing after this fight and kept his brain from being scrambled.

[@glenfenderman]

I'm glad it went went well for him.

[@TheMrwacko55]

He actually had 6 wins after this fight and then he retired from boxing

[@charlesschultz5366]

Willie came into a store I worked at in the early 90’s; a wall of a man. However he must have been having an ‘off’ day with a surprisingly unfriendly behaviour towards staff; he lost some fans that day.

[@kevindean1327]

What was the ref waiting for at the end of the fight, Dewitt's head to come off his shoulders?

[@dquinn8344]

Willie looked just like Huey Lewis...The dumb ref should have stopped the fight BEFORE the last exchange... Gil Clancy and Tim Ryan were among the best fight commentator teams of all time....

[@truthsayer9847]

Love this. I had only seen the UK version. This is way better.

[@tvtimes3402]

SAW THE UK VISION AS A KID AND THOUGHT HE WAS MIKE TYSON

[@investigatorreports4311]

As many times as I've seen good old Bert Cooper fight, never seen much of Joe Frazier being there.

[@francisjtuk]

DeWitt showed a lot of bravery right there. Cooper was superb.

[@worldview2134]

was a great fight

[@andyelliott8027]

DeWitt had no way to win. He couldn't hurt Cooper with his punches and he couldn't take Cooper's punches, defeat was inevitable.

[@freedomofspeech2238]

Willy Dewitt is now a court Judge In Calgary Alberta Canada since 2016 :D

[@harlemmarine1234]

Dewitt..looked like luger.....he needed to be more aggressive

[@zjdubya22]

that second knockdown in round one looked like the first time a deer tries to walk lmao

[@derekanderson6635]

Thst is what you call DE-STRUC-TION .

[@worldview2134]

not really just a regular boxing match

[@MichaelKing-tp6le]

Roadkill

[@joeschmoe9154]

RIP Bert Cooper. There are Levels to Boxing, Willie was no where near Bert in ability. DeWitt moved on and has been very successful.

[@stevenbatke2447]

Happy Valentines Day to our ladies!! 🤣🤣🤣

[@emiliofrigatonie3386]

Here in fucking Regina 😂

[@anitabingham279]

This Guy was never in a Dull Fight. R.I.P. Mr. Bert Cooper.

[@unputer]

hahahaha 13:59 the look of total disgust on the guy's face by the corner post

[@glenfenderman]

I like both fighters. It's sad that Willie lost and it's sad that Bert died long before his prime.

[@blueracer8635]

Coop was one tough SOB.

[@johnjamele]

De Witt absolutely dominated every second of this fight except for the ones he was falling down in.

[@serenityinside1]

.... and all the others 😆

[@presence5426]

DeWit was the greatest Canadian heavyweight ever. And one of the best heavyweights in the world.

[@Lyricistnz]

@@presence5426 Rubbish. Chuvalo, Ruddock, Burns

[@presence5426]

@@Lyricistnz DeWit beat all of them!

[@Lyricistnz]

@@presence5426 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆

[@jimsquick]

I thought years ago that Bert's star was going to rise higher, but it never did. As far as I know, the proposed fight with Tyson never did happen. Sad when you see a very talented individual who doesn't get a right break at a right time. Good fighter, though. RIP

[@kevdean9967]

He was a little on the small side. The Foreman fight proved that!

[@worldview2134]

many commenting on Bert this is all about Willy

[@shakes.dontknowwhatyergettin]

I love Bert, but it can't be said he didn't get unlimited opportunities, including multiple title shots his record didn't merit. Bert brought real threat to the ring even against the best, but the fact is he wasn't one of them.

[@abudujana13]

Thanks for the video

[@brendanharty7545]

My dad was at this fight. He and his friends drove seven hours through a snowstorm to be here and this was their reward😂.

[@cedricliggins7528]

De Wit is now a court judge in Alberta

[@NemeanLion-]

Dewitt looked like he had a really good, crisp offense but no defense and no chin.

[@ernestharlen31]

Bert Cooper Mauled DeWitt the Valentine's Day Massacre

[@-covid-20]

Dewitt was good at throwing punches but lazy at keeping busy dancing n ducking....cooper exposed Dewitt .....

[@davetrent3682]

Tyson vs bert that could have been one for the ages

[@jordanw9949]

Great footage 👊🏾🥊

[@jamesgeorge65]

The white guy simply didn't have enough speed or power to be any good. He hit the other guy enough, but didn't faze him in the least.

[@jdh1977]

Lol a white american heavyweight contender/champion is like seeing a unicorn 😂was Jerry Coney the last one?

[@QueensNativeNYC]

That reminded me of Mercer vs Morrison for a moment when Cooper was pounding on this guy while on the ropes..

[@mrdeeds72]

I remember the headline in the paper the next day was the St Valentine's Day Massacre. I was a Dewitt fan, but his amateur boxing pedigree carried him only so far. Not too long after this fight Cooper got dismantled by Carl The Truth Williams and Dewitt eventually got his revenge by beating Tillman.

[@davetrent3682]

Clean sober bert could give anybody hell great puncher true nonstop street killer rip smokin bert

[@serenityinside1]

Ps at the end end - Tyson veciiper fight mentioned . Oh wow 😊; Don king would never have allowed that !! 🙄

[@jjstratford]

The answer to Willie’s name is: NO. NO HE WILL NOT.

[@roblabelle7874]

I grew up in Regina and this fight was BIG deal. If you weren't there, you'd be watching it on a world wide broadcast. Willie let us all down.

[@johnbuell8035]

God, what a noise from the crowd - they should make women wear gaffa tape over their mouths before coming in. Come to to think of it, why stop there?

[@pukulu]

DeWit was dropping his hands and he did not know how to clinch. Cooper was a good puncher.

[@WZ912]

Looks like Huey Lewis

[@pat86.]

If Bert has a top Trainer, He were champ

[@Nagy50Magyar]

Bert might have been better if he did not abuse substances. That is not on his trainer.

[@MrCrystalcranium]

In the introductions, DeWitt looked like Ken Norton before he fought Foreman...scared to death. He should have been. SBC was a hell of a fighter before cocaine took over his life. It happened after this fight when his $40,000 purse went mostly up his nose and to the ladies of the night. Frazier dropped him eventually. It's a damn shame. Bert was intelligent, tough, fast and powerful and he had a good enough chin to fight among the top heavyweights of his day. I loved watching him fight when he came to fight. Two solid punched from separating Holyfield from his senses and taking the title. So close. RIP SBC.

[@pheirphon4680]

We are all alright here in Canada.

[@patrickverona387]

Dewitt had ZERO head movement. Very easy fight for Cooper.

[@kevindean1327]

Not only that but he didn't keep his guard up. Punches that he should have seen were nailing him straight down the pipe.

[@maxv3208]

DeWitt and Duane Bobick had the same problem.

[@jjstratford]

Willie’s name is a whole lot funnier if you just miss pronounce it slightly 🤔

[@WaS-x6e]

Bert Cioper has that Fraizer style i never knre that he was rrianed by Fraizer

[@tommyboy71]

Nighty night. 🤪

[@maxv3208]

DeWit was getting hurt by every jab Cooper landed. If you can't take the guys jab or avoid it, you aren't going to win the fight.

[@tom11zz884]

Sadly, Tyson vs Cooper never happen.

[@presence5426]

Poor Willie didn't realize who he was tangling with here. Smokin' Bert was dangerous and an early bloomer. Years later, if DeWitt saw Cooper fight Holyfield, and almost beat him, he must have felt some measure of relief.

[@patrickbrowne4606]

The 14:05 mark was gruesome.

[@presence5426]

Willie DeWit and Huey Lewis... separated at birth?

[@chanceburger3169]

Berts career was so mismanaged

[@gergehimon2177]

Bert had to go up to the bigger man's world it says a lot he's tougher than a two dollar steak . Go pa. So sad when I heard of his passing it was the most memorable decade the 80s there was so much good competition this was the only sport in my world then . Bert out of pa.

[@cameronpickard7456]

coop to early for willie

[@JM23007]

Skip to 6:42.

[@carsonwentz2856]

Coop could always hit hard.

[@Anthony-Testicali]

Referee was a sadist cxxt.stop the fight damn u. Not good to see

[@AndrewWilliams-kw6bc]

Just show's you can have all the skill but if you can't take a punch ?

[@pat86.]

I mean for a long time

[@pheirphon4680]

Go willy

[@christophermcmihelk6231]

He looks like Tommy Morrison in every way. Couldn’t fight and a real glass jaw

[@TheBest-sd2qf]

Seems like a case of a not so rock solid chin, Willie should have been able to win this one just by jabbing, moving and countering, which he did and it looked pretty good.

[@frankromano9064]

Where you watching the fight with your Seeing Eye Dog?

[@TheBest-sd2qf]

@@frankromano9064 you saw what happened vs Williams..the same thing was about to happen here had he not got caught..he seemed to never recover which is a case of a bad chin.

[@frankromano9064]

@@TheBest-sd2qf Now you are comparing a not very good fighter like Dewitt to Carl Williams?

[@TheBest-sd2qf]

@@frankromano9064 if you think Wille was not a good boxer yknab

[@TheBest-sd2qf]

@@jabmalassie you think? Seems to me he was caught and never recovered. Cooper was a good puncher but lacked size and stamina. He tried to emulate Frazier's style but couldn't really. I can accept that he might be better than Dewitt but i also believe the early stoppage was due to a China chin. You think Larry Holmes would've been knocked out by these punches? I don't think so. Another 2 or three rounds and Cooper would've been in deep water, he did not have the crazy stamina of Frazier

[@serenityinside1]

Willie de Witt- the Canadian frank Bruno ( albeit without the authoritative jab and powerful right ! De Witt keeps his left low and has no head movement- and fights a Bob and weave specialist trained by the best . What type of amateur trainers did he have ? 🙄

[@cameronpickard7456]

step up too much for willie

[@H.K.5]

So was this guy related to Doug DeWitt?

[@Mike-kv5pl]

I think he was related to Joyce DeWitt.

[@Lyricistnz]

Bert look 40

[@gwmba1989]

I am not sure who De Witt knocked out in his career but they must have been tomato cans. Against Cooper it seemed as though he was feather fisted and couldn't punch for toffee. Cooper was always dangerous, but more so at cruiserweight where he knocked out a lot of good fighters and also won a decision over Henry Tillman who managed to beat Mike Tyson twice in the amateurs. Cooper was a really hard puncher for his size but he was a little too small to trouble the really big heavyweights. He quit against George Foreman in 1989 and against Corrie Sanders in 1993, but both of those guys were massive punchers and were also quite a lot taller than Cooper. Bert also quit against the tough as nails Reggie Gross (another big puncher) and was also stopped by the lanky and experienced Carl Williams. Cooper was also crushed by Riddick Bowe (yet another very tall and big heavyweight), but he did manage to hold his own against Ray Mercer (a decision loss), Evander Holyfield (a stoppage loss but 'The Real Deal' took his first count as a pro in that fight) and Michael Moorer (another stoppage loss but Moorer was down twice in that fight). So basically Cooper's best performances at heavyweight were his defeats to Moorer, Holyfield and Mercer. Bert was never in a dull fight but he was a little too short and small to beat the really big heavyweights. I rate him as the third best cruiserweight of all time behind Holyfield and Oleksander Usyk. I know that's a big statement to make specially considering Bert never won a world cruiserweight title, but his decisive victory over Tillman (another cruiserweight hall of famer) earned him the NABF title. That win, amongst many others in the under 200 pound division, prove that Cooper was one of the best cruiserweights to ever box. May his soul Rest In Peace.

[@sportshistorybuff319]

A sobering lesson in the difference between Canadian and American boxers. Cooper seems a prototype of an urban, ghetto pugilist with an intensity, hunger and ruthlessness that no White Canadian boy could match, no matter how physically skilled or trained. Like Shawn O'Sullivan piling up wins against decent competition before getting exposed by Simon Brown, DeWitt was out of his league here. An outstanding Canadian boxer translates into a good, 34th ranked American boxer. From the opening bell, it was obvious Cooper was simply marking his time for the first opportunity to expose Willie's limitations. Cooper probably had tougher sparring sessions training in an inner-city American gym. When you grow up lean and hungry, you put in the time, work and pain to hone your fighting skills to a razor's edge, able to patiently break down opponents tougher than anyone a Canadian pugilist is likely to encounter. Ironically, Frazier cut all ties with Cooper after Bert quit on the stool while losing a fight, a la Andrew Golota style, disgusted that he had allowed his fighter to borrow his nickname of Smokin. Joe Frazier didn't do quitting, or associate with those who did.

[@anthonyferrazzo2125]

2

[@naggedd]

Fight sucked.

[@bajaborracho9139]

Bert cooper should have been heavyweight champ. Holyfield was out in his feet for an entire minute but the ref refused to stop the fight. Cooper got robbed when holyfield recovered and won.

[@apex_prowler95]

Guy, please stop. 🤯🤯🤯

[@chanceburger3169]

How embarrassing for Dewitt,got crushed in his hometown

[@jeremysipes44]

DeWitt.The Heavyweight Shawn O'Sullivan.