Cassius Clay-Henry Cooper 1

More hurt, yes. But did he have a clearer head? That is debatable. Cooper, a sub 200 pounder clocked him.

The end of the round, and the ropes letting Ali down gently greatly benefited Ali. Had the knockdown happened early with a unbroken fall, Ali's in real trouble

Could Ali have cleared his head as quickly without the illegal smelling salts? That's debatable. By rule, you could argue Cooper via DQ.

 

yes, one of the most gutless posters on here :good

 

Ali was definitely shook up but the man had amazing recuperative skills. I recall seeing Sly Stallone mention Ali told him he couldn't remember anything about the Shavers fight after Earnie put him on ***** street.

 

Well that settles it. We should petition the BBBofC to change the result to a win for Cooper or at least a NC.

 

Yeah, I don't think that Ali would have been fine regardless of smelling salts had been used or the knockdown had occurred 15 seconds into the round. Keep in mind that he was more willing to display to his corner that he had been stunned then if the round had been ongoing. Always remember only bluffing Frazier in their first fight acting as if he was mocking Frazier by stumbling around when he was actually seriously hurt.

 

Cooper proved not to be a world beater but he was as world class as any fighter rated for as long as he was without being champion.

European heavyweights were quite strong over that era and as worthy as many American rated contenders who also did not become champion.

Nobody is going to tell me Ingo, Cooper, Richardson, Mildenburger,London, Erskine and Corletti were undeniably worse than rated Americans like Roy Harris, bethea, DeJohn, Billy Hunter, Chuvalo George Logan or were that far behind Machen and Folley who actually lost to Europeans.

In other eras I hear so much sickening gushing over muscle bound guys who achieved far less than Henry Cooper.

Sure he was small, cut easy and was beneath world championship level but Cooper was a 15 round fighter who paid his dues.

 

Bumps!