Ali/Clay had one of his biggest shocks of his young career when he was dropped heavily at the end of the fourth round by hard hitting British bleeder, Henry Cooper in 1963 before cutting Cooper and ending the fight on cuts in the fifth. Holyfield in what should have been a routine heavyweight title defence, was met by a fired up Bert Cooper and suffered the first knockdown of his career in the third round before rallying and stopping a defenceless Bert on his feet in the seventh. Both were unexpectedly fine performances by the Coopers against their more illustrious opponents but what would happened if you could have Ali and Holyfield switch Coopers? Would Henry and Bert have done any better? Would the young Ali have being surprised by the more aggressive and free swinging Bert? Could Henry's 'hammer' have had the same effect on Holyfield's chin as it did on Ali's?
Although I think that Henry Cooper is underrated, Holyfield is all wrong for him. Evander's granite chin and his mauling, brawling, butting style would have Henry bleeding profusely early, with the inevitable stoppage sure to come. Regarding Bert, the one who almost upset Holyfield, he would probably surprise Ali and give him all kinds of problems.
Holyfield would crash right in to Cooper. Henry would try getting the lefts in but holy would take them well. With in round or two Cooper would be cut and hurt. Henry would try bravely to carry on but holy puts him down in the 4 th. The ref wisely stops it. Bert against Ali. Ali would be moving, jabbing away at Cooper, though bert still manages to get a few in. Ali cranks it up a notch in the 8 th and drops bert with a fast right over the top. Cooper gets up but Ali is all over him. With nothing coming back from bert the ref calls a halt.
Holy's chin is much better than Cassius Clay's. Or at least he keeps it tucked in more effectively. The 'ammer wouldn't have had the same impact. It wouldn't have had the same impact on Ali either but that was a different man to the skinny 21 year old 'enery faced. Bert might well have struck gold though. Maybe his 'rhino fighting his way out of a thicket' style (that's a description of Smokin' Joe I've borrowed. Love it.) would have been as tricky for Cassius as Joe's style was for Ali. It would also have helped if he'd landed his own bomb 30 seconds earlier.
I'd look for both Ali and Holyfield to beat the opposite Cooper with less trouble then the Cooper they faced gave them. Ali especially when he was young, would be wrong for Cooper. He'd move to much and throw his punches to fast and precise in combination for Cooper to respond. I'd look for Ali to take him out in the early to mid rounds without much trouble. Holyfield I think would be too much for Henry Cooper would likely cut him and maybe have him down in the early rounds. I'd look for him to stop Cooper in around the 4th or 5th. Bert Cooper gave Holyfield a good fight cause Holyfield stood his ground and fought him. Cooper could potentially be a tough fight for anyone who stood their ground with him but didn't have a good jab to get in on a guy like Ali. Henry Cooper was able to do well with Ali because of his good jab and lead hand. In most cases I wouldn't expect to be able to drop Ali but he did and actually had him quite hurt. This leads me to believe it would possible with Holyfield as well but unlikely I think. I'd predict Holyfield to come out establish control early, keep a good pace on Cooper and have him cut by around the 3rd. Once the cut opens up I look for Holyfield to poor it on and finish the fight.
Great post fergy. The left hook cooper caught ali with stuns holy but that's it. I also think Bert has it in him to drop ali. Ali always had problem with left hookers as most know. Henry is fuc.ked v Holy more than he is v Ali. I don't see it being competitive like it was with Ali. A jab and a good left hook and u had Ali's attention BIGTIME !
HOlyfield is way to rough and strong and complete for Henry. I think he might spark him in the first 3 without cuts. I'm surprised how competitive Henry was with ali
My thoughts exactly...Enery would be a brutalized, stunned, bloody mess by the end of the 1st round..and would go down twice in the next round and a half before the ref rescued him. Ali wins an easy decision over Bert, but might also cop a tko in the 10th or 12th in a mostly noncompetitive bout.
