Cassius Clay v Henry Cooper (1963)

Then again, Against clay in miami Liston did not have many recent competative rounds experience over the last 3 years.

watching the cooper fight, aside from the moment where henry is first cut I cant think of when clay took any chances against cooper. what chance was he taking when he got decked?

 

letting himself bounce off the ropes with his hands down, as far as I remember. I'll watch it again.

 

Nope I was wrong. That was just before the knockdown hook.

 

I think thats what clay was doing on the way down...

 

A brilliant moment for modern British boxing, arguably the mainstream's greatest moment. But come on, it was the 60s, Ali (Clay) was always going to win in five...

 

for that to happen cooper needed to be cut ....and clay needed that bell.

 

I think with hindsight, we can give Ali the benefit of the doubt.

But that is not to dismiss Sir 'enry, it was the moment that helped make Brut think Cooper was the man to make British men, splash it all over.

Personally I think it takes away from the Cooper's finest moment, when he outpointed Folley. Arguable (at the time) the best win by a British Heavyweight since Ruby Robert beat Corbett...

 

Every young fighter who shows promise needs fights like that. They develop character, and are, in fact, the only ring experience that matters come gut check time against elite opposition.

Ali is rare amongst many young stars in that he actually had several of these. His defensive lapses and attitude issues led to him having the experience of getting up from heavy knockdowns to win, win by stoppage, and do so impressively. He was matched with a variety of styles and had to figure each one.

Ali didn't look good enough to beat Liston because Cooper took him to a class in prizefighting school. But when you examine that as the latest passed assignment(I'd give him a B-) in a career building up to the final exam(Liston), its plain to see that Ali was very, very ready to be champion; He had all the right stuff to knock off an aging lion.

If more young studs tested themselves against fighters like Doug Jones and Henry Cooper, we'd have more ATG fighters around. This is what makes me think Andre Ward is gonna be special. His fighting career as a pro is in its adolescence, but the quality and variety of men he has fought is close to exceeding his predecessor. The writing is on the wall for that kid to become great.

So it was with young Cassius Clay.

 

Good post !! Ali needed the Jones and first Cooper fight to become the man who beat Sonny Liston. Same applies to Joe Frazier and George Foreman in their first fights with Oscar Bonavena and Gregorio Peralta.