How the hell did Henry Cooper nearly stop Ali?

Mate, Mildenberger took a prolonged beating before Ali finally stopped him. Muhammad did not impress in that fight, but that wans't because Mildenberger made it close. Quite the opposite, the reason people questioned Ali's performance was because he failed to stop him earlier, despite landing so many punches. It raised questions about his punching power and finishing ability. A clue to scoring fights is if one guy gets more and more beat up until he simply can't go on then he probably wasn't winning the fight...

 

Invalid. Ali was dodging swinging left hooks from sonny liston and george chuvalo.

 

At the time Ali was skinny and undeveloped.

 

Truly Clay/Ali was very hurt by that Cooper left hook. Ali always had more
"problems" with the smaller more mobile fighters like Doug Jones, Jimmy Young, Henry Cooper, than the bigger slower punchers throughout his career...Can you imagine what would have happened if the Joe Louis of the
Max Baer circa era, hit and hurt Ali that night instead of Henry Cooper ?
Once Joe Louis in his prime hurt you his trip hammer volleys [that's the key"]finished you off...And this I will say...Ali, or any other heavyweight, other than a Jim Jeffries, would have been able to survive the punches that the iron jawed Max Baer took full blast from the greatest combination puncher who ever lived, a chap named Joe Louis...

 

Ali was backing off with his arms down, it was a free invitation for Henry who duly obliged, it was actually a very good punch. Cooper was a turned round lefty he had great power in the left hook,looking at it another way you could say how did Ali get up.

 

This is what happens when somebody who dismisses every heavyweight before Ali comments on a fighter before Ali that actually fought him...

This is what I'm talking about.

 

clearly you did not watch the full fight otherwise you would see Ali lost nearly half the rounds,and Mildenberger gave him problems because he was a southpaw,nothing more.Ali had stated Mildenberger was his toughest opponent before he fought Frazier.Some rounds Ali barely even thru punches in the first 4 rounds and most of his punches missed,like many phantom punches that never landed yet the announcers are mesmerized by his speed and ability to hit Mildenberger?Nonsense.

Obviously the cut effected the fight mildenberger got around the 5th/6th round.,and Ali still struggled against a slow footed average fighter.Before the fight the announcers had stated how much power Mildenberger lacks yet in the later rounds they say how mildenbergers punches are causing Ali concern.:smoke

 

I'm not well suited to be a special needs teacher :good

 

Young Stribling, Mickey Walker, Johnny Risko...

 

Ali got hit with hooks and in them days the light guys had natural weight and natural power....Ali got hit with left hooks like Holmes got hit with right hands

 

:rofl:rofl

 

Stribling was KO'd once in 200 fights... by Schmeling.
Risko had a George Chuvalo-esque chin and his only other KO defeats were from a low blow and in his last pro fight.
Walker beat a number of heavyweights, drew with Jack Sharkey and was ranked in the top 10. Schmeling was the only heavyweight to stop him.

More impressive than any KOs Cooper ever had.

 

Yes, I watched it. Not keen on doing it again though, not a very exciting fight. Mildenberger gave Ali some problems, Im not disputing that. But you have to see it in context, Ali was supposed to outclass him and stop him early. That didn't happen, Mildenberger gave him more problems than expected. That does not mean that it was a close fight or that Mildenberger had a chance of winning it. Of course the cut affected Mildenberger, but the reason he got cut was because Ali was punching him. That much should be obvious.

To summarise: Ali took some time adjusting to Mildenbergers stance and finding his range, then he proceeded to knock the german down in rounds five, eight and ten, cutting up his eye in round six and shutting it almost completely in round eight. The ref saved Mildenberger from taking more punishment by stopping the fight in round twelve. Ali really should have stopped him earlier and did not impress. The southpaw stance seemed to give him trouble. It was not close however, and Mildenberger took a beating.

 

Not world class then, just as I thought...

 

Stribling and Walker were world class. Risko had a world class chin.

Who was the best fighter Cooper KO'd?