Downplayed riddles : Cassius Clay / Muhammad Ali

Here is James Slater's biased article posted with some parts I find intriguing colored in red :
Clay v Cooper - The Final Word On The Torn Glove Story

17.03.06 - By James Slater: Right up to the present day, Sir Henry Cooper claims that Cassius Clay got anywhere from oneminute's extra rest to a minute and a half extra after being felled by "'Enery's 'Ammer" in the first famous bout between the young

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Ali

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and Henry Cooper. Usually, after Henry has finished making his claims, the T.V station he is on will then show us footage of Clay's trip to the floor near the end of round four. However, never do they seem to show film of the very moment Cooper speaks so passionately about. Without exception, at least on the television programmes Henry has been invited to be on in the U.K, as soon as the audience begins to cheer at the left hook and the knockdown it brings the camera switches back to present day and Henry's beaming face.

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We are supposed to believe that a badly shaken Clay remains slumped on his stool for as long as two and a half minutes or more while officials go in search for new boxing gloves. I'm sure every fan knows of the famous story that tells of the necessity for new gloves. Angelo Dundee, Ali's corner-man, noticed a small tear in one of his fighter's gloves and used this to his advantage when the hurtful knockdown came.

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And then, according to Henry, an official made a desperate visit to the locker room area at the very back of a packed-out Wembley stadium in search of new gloves, thus the

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Clay was to receive. We are supposed to believe that a passionate and vocal crowd of Cooper's most loyal fans sat in complete obedience as long seconds passed, each one further negating their hero's chances of finishing off the loud-mouth Yank who had belittled him beforehand. There is just no way this fantasy version of events ever took place. There would have been a near riot if Cooper's fans had been subject to the incredible frustration of having to watch their man's greatest shot at glory being spoilt due to such a long break between rounds.

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but what happened immediately after is vastly different from what Cooper claims. What actually happened is this; Dundee tells of the need for new gloves, the referee then has a very brief word with another official at ringside who informs him that there are no more gloves.

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The extra time Clay got? Six seconds. These are the facts and surely any interviewer on T.V, when having Cooper tell his story, could very easily prove to all that his recollections are wrong. But of course, such behaviour would be classed as bad form, embarrassing a British boxing legend in such a way. Indeed, Henry has probably told his story so many times he believes it himself now.

The bell rang for round five and Clay went out far more seriously than he had been previously that evening ,when he had clowned a lot and fought pretty much at his leisure so as to make good with his fifth round win prediction. Clay hadn't got a prediction correct in quite some time and therefore wanted to do so against "This bum Cooper". This is the only reason he got hit in the first place. That he carried Cooper as he did allowed the Brit more time and the overly cocky Clay paid the price in the fourth. If he'd been all business from the outset he would have despatched Cooper in around three rounds. Of this I am certain. Cooper's cuts poured like wine and the ref stopped the fight. There was no anger from the crowd at this time, nor was anyone talking about an extra long break that benefited Cassius Clay. This talk came later. Over the years the fight slipped into mythical status and this myth grew and grew. Amazingly, some people actually still buy into Cooper's claims.

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There is nothing else to say. Cooper was beaten fair and square. Although to be absolutely fair,

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But absolutely everything else was on the level.

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Some claim it was torn even before the first bell, others in the third round. There was a tear though and it came about quite accidentally,

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Hey, boxing's a tough sport and

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then it's the referee's fault and his alone

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Dundee was under no obligation to point it out.

As we know, there was a rematch and again Ali won. I could understand the long life of the mythological story from the first fight if Ali had avoided Cooper from then on, but this wasn't the case. I'm just amazed that to this day, 2006, some people still believe Henry Cooper's side of the story. As for Henry still telling the story; well, I suppose you cannot really blame him. It was after all his finest moment, knocking down "The Greatest", even though at the time Ali was an underdeveloped youngster who was still some way from his peak years. Still, it was an achievement nonetheless, to put him on the floor, it's just a shame Henry has to embellish his great moment with fantasy. ​

Article posted on 17.03.2006

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end of James Slater's article
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It could have been easier to color just d parts that don't reek out of bias / does not reaffirm Henry Cooper's claims .
Thank u 4 bringing this article though , u just helped me in proving my claims even further .
Regarding d yellow part - u know that there r time jumps in those somalian pirate quality films , yet u chose 2 ignore it just like u did d red parts b4 they were colored in red . Or is it just your brain being incapable of interpreting d red parts like an in tact brain of a grown ass man should ? this is my guess .

 

most ppl r idiots and will denounce facts as bull**** . y do they do it ? IDK , maybe if they didn't then they didn't expose themselves as such and this little fact would b kept unknown 2 me , but some facts have a stronger tendency 2 successfully call d idiots out , some day i will know better about it .

 

Y do some ppl find it so important 2 protect cheaters' , duckers' legacy may b a mystery . can some1 explain it 2 me ? y ignore d facts in favor of speculations ? cheating in a fight = meaningless result .
fighting overmatched opponents due 2 age/size/something else or a combination of these factors = meaningless result .
But when d predecided losers manage 2 rise above and win , it is a very meaningful result .

 

D context here is Ali's career and individual fights , some of which r discussed here .

 

Ali is considered all of these here : superb technician , extremely durable , "d greatest" , fastest handspeed 4 a HW (Patterson wasn't a HW but then it's not just Patterson that surpasses Ali in this department) . This forum is full of Ali lovers . And D old men in London r just that .
And Cooper was far from great puncher , it just didn't take 2 much 2 knock Ali down , he was no David Tua in this aspect , and If some1's going 2 post a 19 years old Tua getting stopped by a much taller and fully grown man , consider Ali was also stopped in his youth , and not because of cuts/broken nose or even broken hands or shoulder injury , he just wasn't as durable as most believe , just a cheater whom was repeatedly saved by cheats and was allowed 2 cheat in order 2 save himself . He was durable , but just imagine if Carl Williams had that criminal personality + such a criminal "trainer" + criminal promoter + criminal supporters , just imagine . He didn't even need smelling salts or gloves vs Bert Cooper , a much more formidable and dare i write , durable than Henry Cooper . And 7 years younger than Williams i believe . But Williams won that fight by stoppage without even going down . Would u consider Williams as even nearly as durable as Ali ? U just can't imagine Ali without cheating , because he had so many and so much and about part of them i guess we'll never know d truth , but with a serial killer whom was convicted at 85 killings , u wouldn't b surprised if he made 92 and just forgot himself about 7 , or maybe just couldn't b convicted about them as well . This how Ali's career should b viewed .

 

Most if not all of my issue with ALI IS DESCRIBED IN THIS THREAD , and in d ROPES & HEAT THREAD . I still rank him in my top 10 All time HW though , Maybe i m still letting u influence my judgement 2 much ? :think
I can make a case 4 him being outside of it though , Bowe & Ibeabuchi r swappable with ALI D way i c it . My list is h2h , if it was more based on achievements , it would have been like :

Foreman (Foreman's later career achievements vs Holyfield , Cooper , Moorer ,
_____ , Briggs , does edge it 4 him)
McCall (TKO2,KO10,TKO1 , and these r only his important stoppage wins)
Holyfield (his 3rd fight with Bowe and his fight vs Cooper put him below
____ McCall , whom did better vs Lewis and was never legitimately
___ stopped )
Tyson (elbows of iron may still b overrated in this list)
Lewis (above Bowe 4 fighting better opposition)
Bowe (besides of Holyfield he also has Bert Cooper)

..
..

hard 4 me 2 base it right now mostly on actual achievements , but I'll describe Ali's achievements that he does deserve some h2h credit 4 :
TKO15 over Bonavena , TKO over Lyle (Lyle was obviously overawed by D Rumble In D Jungle) , going d distance with Frazier twice and in d 3rd Ali wanted 2 quit on his stool , or maybe he just wanted some extra time Cooper style :yep . Going d distance with Ernesto Shavers , i'll even give him some credit 4 his performances vs n underrated Leon Spinks and maybe 1-2 more fights , but not those I emphasized in this thread probably .

Seems 2 me as if it is u and others here who have n issue with Ali .

Lookins @ d way Ali "fought" and knowing d truth surrounding his fights shows u what a disgrace he , Dundee , Don King and his supporters were and r .