But he wasn't knocked out by Cooper. That is the point. Every time Ali got dropped he got right back up quickly and continued. He still beat Cooper the first time as well as second, stopped Sonny Banks, lost to Frazier the first time, but proved he could take a hellacious beating and continue even after getting badly wobbled, and stopped Wepner. Hence he had a great chin. Guy never got stopped, and even against Holmes, where they threw in the towel because he was just a punching bag, he would have just taken that beating for 15 rounds if they hadn't stopped it and lost a unanimous decision. Guy could take a punch even with Parkinson's.
No doubt about Ali's abilities - but if he had the wrong ref at the wrong time he could have lost. Look at Ruddock Tyson 1 ..stopped without Ruddock touching the floorand still very in it Lewis McCall 1 .....stopped with Lewis up and ready to fight Even Tyson Carl Williams seemed a tad premature Now Cooper was cut and in front of a pro Cooper stadium sized crowd...surely you must concede that a referee could have easily [but not neccessarily correctly] have stopped Ali in similar circumstances if the bell had not rang
Title means : If Cooper's skin wasn't like wet thin paper. A similar question could be : if Foreman fought Ali in MSG in a winter's night . The board's answer would be : Ali would have always found a way to win , even with a broken hand against Norton , or against a smallish chubby Frazier .