Bob Foster vs Henry Cooper

I don't think of lateral movement when I think of Foster.

 

Cooper was kod in 2 rds by Zora Folley in dec 1961,

 

Foster had a pretty fair right hand too.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...9F1B24D6331669699EB29F1&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

 

In all honesty Cooper beat Foley first time around..
Where as first time around foster was beaten by Foley.

In fact Brian London beat Foley just 23 months after Zora beat Foster.

Cooper was always better than London.

 

Most of the heavies who beat Foster outweighed him by 20-30lbs. Cooper used to weigh in the 180s with weights in his pockets, so he's not going to have much advantage in that area.

Foster only lost to rated heavies (discounting an ill-advised comeback). Cooper could be outpointed by mediocre heavies like Amos Johnson and Roger Rischer. Moreover, of those who beat Foster, Ali and Folley beat Cooper too, Terrell would probably beat Cooper and Frazier vs Cooper would last about as long as Frazier vs Foster.

I'm going for Foster on points.

 

Yes, hence my point, being outpointed and stopped was Cooper's general problem, over cuts.

 

Bob never had much success vs. HWs. Cooper would nail him with the left and lights out.

 

Just 23 months as in 2 years? In between Folley was ko'd by Ali and was 36 and on the slide when London fought him,which of course was why he was selected as an opponent for Brian in the first place.

 

It's a good point about Cooper's size. While his weight was unusually low, he had a pretty large frame for the era and looked the bigger man in the ring against the likes of Prescott and Walker, even though they outweighed him by a few pounds.

I think that viewpoint is important if backing Cooper to win. If you see Cooper as a borderline LHW/HW, Foster would be the obvious pick as it's inconceivable to me that Cooper could have been an ATG LHW if he could shed a few more lbs.

If you go strictly by record at heavyweight, Cooper was the better fighter and performed better against common opponents. Based on that I'd go with Cooper, but at the same time that pick doesn't quite feel right when you consider their respective standings in history.