The ring bowed under the weight. The turnbuckles groaned. And thunder began to rumble in George Foreman's big right hand.
You could hear it in the distance. Start counting. One thousand one. One thousand two. One thousand three.And the lightning struck.
It crashed into Gerry Cooney's jaw, crushed him to the ground and scattered what little was left of his heavyweight boxing career to the four winds.
Cooney, 33, will quit one fight into his comeback. Foreman, 41, is 20 successful fights into his and looking squarely at heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.
"I do believe that the same thing that happened to Gerry Cooney will happen to Mike Tyson, if I get the chance," Foreman said.
What happened to Cooney? Foreman launched his 2531/4 pounds into Cooney's jaw and knocked him out at 1:57 of the second round of what was scheduled for 10 rounds at the Atlantic city Convention Center Monday night.
"That's it for me," Cooney said. "I gave it a shot. I straightened some things out. I wanted to see what I could do, and it didn't work out. I got caught with a good shot. That's it for me."
Cooney only fought seven times in the 1980's and was in his first fight since losing a heavyweight title shot by fifth-round knockout to Michael Spinks on June 15, 1987.
"To me, Gerry Cooney's still wet behind the ears," said Foreman, who was a world champion until he met Muhammad Ali in equatorial Africa on Oct. 30, 1974 and got knocked out in eight rounds.
The fight was on closed circuit television and pay-per-view. For those who didn't pay to see it, it's not true that Foreman came into the ring wearing a chef's hat and lobster bib. He was thick in the middle, though, and his muscles didn't ripple so much as jiggle. But make no mistake about it, he hits like a man swinging an anvil on a chain.
It was apparent from the beginning that Cooney was going to take his best shot, though. At the end of a promising career troubled by alcohol and drug abuse, Cooney felt he owed it to himself. He came out jabbing Foreman, and hurt him in the first round with his trademark, a left hook.
"He hit me right on the point of my elbow, and it went right up to my jaw," Foreman said. "I admire Gerry Cooney. I didn't think he would be that brave. But now I can see why he was. He's got a good left hook.
"Usually, when I stiff jab a guy, they get a little cautious, but he didn't."
In the second round, Foreman knocked Cooney down early with a series of clubbing punches. Cooney was up at the count of four, and Foreman laid into him. He hit him with a left uppercut, then a right that sent Cooney reeling to the ground.
Referee Joe Cortez didn't bother to count this time. He signalled the end, instead. Cooney sat on the canvas, his lips flapping as he exhaled, his eyes spinning like the slot machines next door. When he finally did get to his feet, he wobbled and almost fell, then found a seat in the corner.
"I don't think Mike Tyson will be that difficult," Foreman said. "Cooney started moving back a little in the second round when I hit him. I don't think Mike Tyson will be that smart."
Cooney, who weighed 231, ends his career with a 28-3 record and 24 knockouts, and a $1 million payday. Foreman, now 65-2 with 61 career knockouts, also was guaranteed $1 million, and he'll probably get that title shot someday soon.
But nothing will be tougher than beating Cooney, he said.
"He hits harder than any man I ever fought," Foreman said. "He's as close as I've got to a brother when it comes to power."