DAMN! Henry Cooper kills a dude!

Thanks!

 

He'd make an awesome light heavy.

 

Good punch, but I think he'd have to get a lot of luck to beat Joshua.

 

They were amateur rivals as well meeting three times, Cooper coming out on top 2-1. They fought eight times in total.

 

Honestly i never was very interested about watching cooper and i liked a lot what i watched here

 

Facts one hell of a cruiser with that left hook

 

Cooper's problem, apart from his tender skin, was he never had a right hand.

 

Facts

 

I remember Cooper said in his autobiography that they were genuinely scared Erskine might be dead - they thought he'd broken his back on the ropes.

 

He should've never been in a position to land that lengthy combo unabated, honesty. One could (and IMO should) very well have waved Erskine off after the previous KD.

 

For the first time ever, I think, Chris, I don't agree. Henry did more than land one good left hook on Cassius Clay, he gave him fits, a trick he repeated in the rematch; this was only a year away from the Ali of the Williams and Folley fights, generally considered one of the finest heavyweights ever in that form and Cooper gave as good as he got apart from getting cut. Nobody troubled prime Ali like that. Bear in mind also that, at age 37 (at a time when that was old for a fighter) he almost beat young Joe Bugner who was only two or three years away from giving Ali and Frazier tough nights.

You're right in that Jim Wicks was reticent about letting Enery fight the likes of Liston or Frazier - 'too ugly' he used to say, meaning too hard, too strong and too tough before Ali adopted the insult as his own and adapted its meaning.

I think Jim may have looked at AJ's displays against Povetkin and the two v Ruiz and felt AJ was actually comparatively handsome. Enery had a habit if rushing, winging hard shots. AJ would not have enjoyed that.

 

Very good and interesting post, Eddie.

I was probably harsh on Cooper with my 'one punch' comment, you're right. He wasn't disgraced in either Clay / Ali fight - I don't remember him giving him fits as you say, but then again it's been donkeys years since I watched either of them, so maybe I need a refresher! But I was using a bit of dramatic, simplified language to try and ram home my wider point: that history in the UK has been very kind to Cooper in my opinion, and his enduring popularity and high ratings don't really match up with his career, which was pretty patchy for someone regularly put amongst the British greats.

There's no doubt that Wicks' sentiments were very noble on a personal level as he had Cooper's interests at heart, but from a fan's perspective it does stick in the craw that Cooper is seen as something of a sporting icon despite being shielded from quite a few dangerous opponents, whereas Bugner who you mention is seen as a joke figure and almost reviled in the UK, despite him getting in there with the likes of Frazier and Lyle, both of whom Cooper would never have been matched against. I don't know this for sure - maybe you can confirm? - but I've also seen it written a few times over that Brian London's world title shot against Patterson in 1959 was originally offered to Cooper, who declined it. And in any case, when he did fight Patterson years later, Cooper was outclassed.

Cooper held the British title for an age, but before that he'd struggled to establish superiority over the likes of Bygraves and Erskine - and I still don't know how he got away with never defending the Commonwealth title against Chuvalo. I know Chuvalo claimed he wanted it, but was given the usual cold shoulder by Wicks who thought it was too risky, but then again he would say that, wouldn't he? If anyone has any worthwhile information on that I'd appreciate it.

For every solid win on Cooper's record, there are just as many - maybe even more - losses which show he was never quite at that absolute world class level. He was also a bit of a sore loser and excuse maker: knocked out because the sun was in my eyes against Johansson, got robbed against Bugner etc. (for what it's worth, I did have him beating Bugner, but not by a margin which could justify claims of robbery, or justify Cooper never talking to Harry Gibbs ever again and ignoring Bugner for years afterwards as he did). As a youngster I was as enamoured with him as a lot of others, until the more I saw of him in the ring and more I learned about his career management. I think history this side of the pond has been pretty generous to him.

Sorry for the length of the post!

 

AJ is far better now than when he was in the amateurs and he has put on weight.

 

Don't apologise. Great post. Different viewpoint of our 'Enery and one that I hadn't taken account of, particularly the Bugner comparison.

Can't disagree with a word except I stand by Cooper giving Ali two hard fights. Other than that, though, hmmm. Mr Brut may have had a few breaks not given worthier candidates.