Cassius Clay-Henry Cooper 1

Shhhh...don't tell him that.

 

Yeah, I'd heard it was 5 seconds over a minute only.
klompton has timed it at 2 seconds over.

 

Was it Angelo Dundee who popularized the version that Clay received a few minutes of extra time ?

 

He certainly went along with it at the very least. Perpetuated the legend of him as the street smart cornerman who always could pull a rabbit out of the hat.

 

I've seen the fight loads of times and smelling salts revived Ali. Prior to their use he had stood up in his corner completely out of it. Just think: little, light Henry Cooper nearly one shotted The Greatest.

 

:good

 

Enry ran with it as well, Dundee loved to perpetuate Ali mythology !

 

I'm pretty sure they were. I'll try and find the thread that wrote about it.

Although I do like people talking about henry cooper almost one shotting ali, when he got up under his own power and walked (not staggered or fumbled) to his corner unaided.

 

Yeah, it was clear as day that Dundee used smelling salts on Clay. That's why it's baffling to me that no one seems to have mentioned it at the time, if it was illegal, and instead concocted a fantasy that Clay got a minute of extra rest (think I've even heard five minutes). Why concoct that myth if Dundee right in front of everyone did something that merited a DQ?

 

I don't know why the torn glove incident was blown up. Maybe it's a good story like Ali throwing his Olympic Gold Medal into the river?

What I do know is Dundee gave Ali smelling salts; it's on film.

 

This article (by Shirley Povich) from 1966, pre-the Ali-Cooper title rematch, has a couple of interesting snippets.

[url]https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19660520&id=ZV40AAAAIBAJ&sjid=GJsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5347,3303127&hl=en[/url]



In Cooper's camp, his manager, Jim Wicks, said there would be more strict enforcement of the rules with this fight with Clay, "There'll be more supervision of Clay's corner." he said. "Last time, when 'Enry had him on the floor and the bell saved Cassius, they revived him by breaking vials under his nose. Ammonia or smelling salts may go in America but they don't in England, you know."

.....

Cooper's camp is maintaining that Angelo Dundee wangled an extra 30 seconds rest between rounds for Clay by claiming a badly split glove,

....

So, in fact, a complaint about the use of smelling salts WAS brought up at the time, and not only after the extra time myth had been doubted in later years.
It appears that 30 seconds extra was an exaggeration. It might have been 5 seconds, or even less. I'd say it was 2 seconds, trusting klompton's timekeeping.

 

Yeah, he probably was hoping/trying to get the glove changed and an extra 3 or 4 minutes rest, but failed.

 

Strangely enough, the Times' next day report of the fight doesn't mention any delay.

It was unlucky for Cooper that he landed just before the bell, but I do think he milked it for all it was worth for the next 40-odd years. Every time he re-told the story, the delay seemed to get longer!