I once saw a fight where Ali had a match with a baled boxer. Ali kept bouncing blows off his balled head but he kept moving forward in his attack. Ali kept backing up while he hammered that bald head with one blow after another. The baled boxer was crotched low, and Ali was only able to make contact with the top of his head because he was so much shorter than Ali. I honestly thought it was Frazier with a bald head. Ali threw everything he had at that man but it didn't slow him down: he just kept coming. I wanted to watch the match again but I just cannot remember who his opponent is.
The only one that spring to mind with the bald head, is Shavers. But he was far from smaller than Ali.
I was at the fight. It got about 95% of the crowd on Joe's side. But nobody in the audience liked George at the time, so Joe was still going to be the crowd favorite.
I watched the fight on closed circuit TV at a nearby convention center and the reaction of the crowd was the same as you described when you saw it. Joe especially got a great ovation from the crowd when the bell sounded ending the second round when Joe was still standing and hadn't even been floored. (Interestingly, many many years later, when old George Foreman fought Holyfield for the title, George got a similar ovation at the end of the eighth round.)
Well it did to my mind. I can cope with the sight of a boxer's shining dome but not sure I'm ready to see one burp his worm, if I'm honest.