When the fight between champion Larry Holmes and challenger Gerry Cooney was mercifully stopped in the 13th round 20-years-ago Tuesday (June 11), the "Great White Hope" as Cooney was dubbed, stood bloodied and broken. Broken physically and broken emotionally.

Cooney carried a lot of weight into the ring that night, and it wasn't just the 225 pounds he carried on his 6-foot-6 frame. Not only was he going up against the heavyweight champion of the world in 115-degree Las Vegas heat, he was carrying the hopes of white America on his shoulders. It wasn't something Cooney wanted to do. Sure, he wanted to be the heavyweight champion and that was it. Not the first white heavyweight champion since Ingemar Johansson TKO'd Floyd Patterson in 1959. His handlers tried to deflect the attention the white challenger was receiving by saying that he was "not the white man but the right man."

"A few people did that to make money," Cooney told MaxBoxing.com on Friday, en route to the International Boxing Hall of Fame festivities. "It wasn't about the 'Great White Hope' it was two guys fighting for the championship."

In the weeks preceding the fight, Cooney graced the covers of Time and Sports Illustrated respectively. He shared the Time cover with Sylvester Stallone and the SI cover with Holmes. Interestingly enough, the SI cover was a special pullout cover that featured the challenger Cooney on the main cover and the champion on the pullout. The article that previewed the fight went through possible scenarios that could occur in the fight. SI predicted Cooney in five.

Roland Rogers, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of BlackAthlete.com Inc. wrote in an article regarding the "Great White Hope" in sports that a subtle form of racism creeps into the media when a black person does something noteworthy in sports that threatens whites.

"The media will never admit it, but every time a black person in sports does something which captures the attention of America at the expense of someone white, a subtle form of racism rears up again," he wrote. "Strangely, not directed at black people, but, actually, at the white sports figure for somehow letting the 'race' down!"

Cooney was so distraught after his loss that apologized on the microphone to what was at the time the largest live gate in boxing history at Caesar's Palace.

Aside from Cooney getting much of the attention before the fight, what also angered many was that both fighters were paid the same (about $10 million), further building the racial tension, and thus interest in the bout. The fight was in such high demand that ABC $3 million to re-broadcast the fight on a tape delayed basis.

The first time the quest for the "Great White Hope" began was shortly after Jack Johnson TKO'd Tommy Burns Dec. 26, 1908 in Sydney, Australia to become the first black heavyweight champion.

In 1909, middleweight champion Stanley Ketchel was a promotional-orchestrated threat to try and wrest away the championship from the "Galveston Giant." He sent Johnson to the canvas in the 12th, thoroughly infuriating the champion. When Johnson rose to his feet he threw one ferocious punch that in turn sent Ketchel to the canvas and ended the bout.

In 1910, the chance to topple Johnson once and for all was put squarely upon the shoulders of former champion James J. Jeffries who had been urged out of his six-year retirement by several people including author Jack London. The fight took place on July 4, in Reno. Needless to say, Johnson kept his title via a 15 round knockout.

The victory over Jeffries sent a shock of excitement throughout many black cities, causing race riots in which several people died. Even though the fight was filmed, the footage was never shown.

Johnson's exploits with white women also angered many. He was convicted of transporting a minor across state lines for immoral purposes, even though the teenager white teenager was his wife. He fled the country and defended his title in Europe.

Jess Willard finally dethroned Johnson, 37 at the time, with a 26th round KO.

"It must be remembered that professional boxing has been and remains a sport that blatantly, sometimes crudely, exploits racial and ethnic differences," Gerald Early wrote in a 1998 article in The Nation. "The advent of Johnson did not, by any means, invent the intersection of race and sports but surely heightened it as a form of national obsession, a dark convulsion in an incipient American popular culture. The expression 'Great White Hope' is still used today, in boxing, track and field, and professional basketball, whenever a white emerges as a potential star."

The last American born heavyweight champion was Rocky Marciano who won the title by knocking out Jersey Joe Walcott in 1952.

"Not since Gerry Cooney and Larry Bird has America had any hope of realizing someone to champion its cause of white sports supremacy," Rogers wrote. "Instead, the images of Jack Johnson, Jackie Robinson, Althea Gibson, Joe Louis, Hank Aaron, Arthur Ashe, and the Williams sisters come rushing into the consciousness of white media."

Cooney claims that it wasn't the pressure of championing his race, but rather the antics of Don King, who Cooney feels kept him from staying active in the ring on his climb up the heavyweight ranks. After Cooney knocked out Ron Lyle in one round in 1980, he dropped Ken Norton in the first a year later. He did not fight until 13 months later against Holmes. Cooney believes that King threw up roadblocks that kept him inactive.

"I fought three rounds in three years," Cooney said. "That was because of Don King."

Overcoming his own personal demons in the years after his showdown with Holmes, Cooney is now the head of Fighters' Initiative for Support and Training (F.I.S.T.), a non-profit foundation providing treatment, counseling and career path assistance to fighter who are transitioning to life outside the ring.

He has few regrets about what took place 20 years ago.

"It was a great time in my life," Cooney said. "Larry and I are the best of friends. I loved the experience. I wish I had had more experience, but I'm glad I did it and I'd do it again."