Why Did Cooper Do Better Than Liston?

Were there any fighters that that skill set would not bother ?

 

I know he started strong in the first fight .. haven't rewatched the rematch in a while ... will check both out ..

 

Cooper had the moral bonus of almost knocking Ali out. yes, So far as the score cards were going Sonny was certainly doing more than alright.. but that last completed round Sonny got beat up. Cooper absorbed a frenzied attack leaving him blinded in his own blood but, even then, he was not quite as broken as Sonny was returning to his stool after round six.

In round six Sonny got the fight jabbed out of him. Ali took the ring centre, sat down on his blows and really started jabbing Sonny hard in a controlled way. Liston took like 30 good clean blows on the face. Sonny still tried a few counters, he was still with it, I think he even landed the last punch of the round, but the fight had left him. Once he realised he couldn’t even come forward without being picked off Sonny knew he was done. He had lost the ring centre. Ali was beating him at his own game with a strong jab.

 

The deficits Liston had when compared to Cooper re Cassius Clay is more than compensated by the men's comparative showings vs Patterson & Folley.

 

Oh yeah, Sonny murderers Cooper.

Henry could engage in a physical fight with Ali in a way he never could have done with Liston. Sonny is never giving up ring centre against Cooper like Ali did. Whilst he can box, Cooper still would have been hunted down.

 

Not once Ali had become so established. On the way up, back when Ali was beating guys like old Archie, Sonny Banks and Billy Daniels a lot of contenders might have thought there was scope there to beat him. And without knowing this style was going to translate so well against the upper echelon of the division there probably was some justification to believe it.

 

Liston got his ears boxed off and didn`t land as many shots as Cooper did.

 

Sorry , my question was wouldn't the style of "an aggression who punched their way in and cut the ring down. The guys who did not give him time to show Ali what they were going to do next. " .. It would seem that style would bother most fighters ..

 

No that style didn`t botyher Patterson or Folley.

 

Cooper fought Ali differently than he fought anyone else, apart from Joe Erskine. Usually he was a thinking box-puncher. But he changed tactics to suit a fighter. Against Ali he used a higher tempo altogether. Henry certainly fought Patterson and Folley differently than he set about Ali.

 

Yes, he stated in an interview that Ali was easier to fight than a Marciano or a Frazier type of fighter, because pressure fighters were on top of you the whole time whereas Ali gave you time and space.