I was talking to my grandfather the other day and he thinks Cooper would be Britian's greatest boxer if he didn't cut so easily. I've not seen a great deal of so whats your opinion on him? Where does he rank alongside other heavyweights?
Beat me to it Janitor. Cooper not quite Britain's greatest boxer without the cuts, but still remains one of the better heavyweights/one of the best to hail from Britian. I think though that the cuts are simply part of who he was/his legacy so i'm not really a fan of doing these things. In terms of Britain's greatest boxer the likes of Buchannan, Fitzimmons, both Lewis', even Wilde and Calzaghe are on a different greatness level for me. But in terms of heavyweights he would certainly not be out of class with the likes of Bruno, and higher than the likes Cockell and London imo.
It is a bit of a myth about cuts costing Cooper fights. From 1957 to his retirement in 71, he only lost to Ali (Clay) on cuts (twice); he was outpointed four times, KO/TKO'd four times and Dq'd once in this period as well.
The "if he didn't cut so easily" argument doesn't hold much water for me, at any rate. If Bruno wasn't separated from his senses so easily, he would've been one hell of a fighter too. Fact is they were. Still, Cooper was a pretty good heavyweight. He hurt Clay worse than anyone ever did before or after, almost miraculously, and was ranked in the ring top10 for 7 or so years.
I think he did have problems with cuts although he actually "only" lost 3 or 4 times because of it (twice to Ali who was notoriously good at cutting up his opponents). Cooper bled in most of his fights but he learned how to fight through it. Cooper was probably at his best here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-2op2gXusM
Probably one of my favourite kayos, knew what it it was before i watched it then. He speaks very highly of Erskine.
Was Cooper staying in a neutral corner after the knockdowns? Looked like he jumped on Erskine pretty quick.
That was a sick knockout. Very impressive showing by Cooper though, never seen it before. Particularly his left hand is VERY good; jabs, hooks, uppercuts, everything.
Cooper was a mean sod in the ring but very gentle out side it.Years ago, I was late getting to the Royal Albert Hall for a fight night and the first fight was all ready on I stood halfway up the stairs waiting to find my seat in between rounds ,so as not to block anyone's view. Cooper was crouched in front of me waiting to do the same ,he was doing commentary for the BBC on the main bout,Seeing him there , as the bell rang for a joke I said" come on fella out.of the way" ,"I haven't got all night", he turned quicklly round ,[he is just under 6 2in,I am 5 8 1/2in], grinned and said "sorry mate you go first",mild mannered , the term could have been invented for him.
i know he stayed away from george chuvalo and wouldn't give him a fight for the british empire title.he knew chuvalo was to strong and rugged for him i guess,would have been interesting fight to watch.