Prime per Prime. Does big George finish off Cooper or does Cooper land his ammer and call it a night. George was slower and Henry's left hook was so quick it even caught Ali and dropped him . who is one of the best defensive boxers. But Foreman did have dynamite in both hands.
Prime George Foreman would smother and overwhelm Henry Cooper, he is too small and has tissue paper skin above his eyebrows. Henry would not get the chance to unload his left hook, Foreman by KO 1.
Big fan of Henry. But George is all wrong for him. In so many ways. Henry can land plenty and he was fast enough in theory to move around George and pick him off..but George showed against Ali that he could walk down all that movement. George didn’t really have to change his stride to land a heavy punch. He could cross his feet. Just walk up and punch. Conventional movement, where a boxer always steps behind his own lead foot usually prevents the following fighter closing the distance unless he can cut the ring after following him around. It didn’t apply to George. He just walked in. the required balance and leverage to punch effectively was all a natural instinct. He had radar. And all with the heavy hands that could produce effective punching without technique. So the plan of stick and move just won’t work for Henry. Cooper can beat George to the punch on the way in, but Foreman is getting the return blow in and he can rag-doll Henry inside, push him into the distance to tee off on him. oh it’s horrible. Cooper can’t win. It’s bad for him.
Foreman by KO. I commend you Choklab on your good analysis. Basically Foreman can afford to get hit multiple times in order to land just 1 of his shots.
When you watch the resistance that similarly sized Gregorio Peralta showed twice against Foreman.. You see that it won’t apply to Henry. Even though Henry is the better boxer. Peralta used side to side, close range, clinch based tactics. He worked the clinch very well. Using Foremans strength to keep him off balance inside and managing to operate quite effectively around the danger zone. Landing on the way in. Turning. The Argentine fighters were closer related to the Jack Dempsey era of fighting. Short punching.. working inside. the rest of the world adapted to cleaner picture perfect boxing.. but there was an art to all that older stuff that was less appreciated in the rest of the world.
I'm trying every scenario to see can Cooper win this one. It's hard to find a way for him, the only slim hope I give him is if he can survive 5, 6 rounds and for Foreman to gas out and then maybe get something from the fight. Only problem is Foreman usually only gassed out when he was hitting something, he was pretty economic with his punches when he didn't have something to hit and Cooper isnt going to take that punishment.
Poor Henry hasn't a hope here. Foreman had a blueprint for fighting smaller Heavyweights with a great left hook.
Didn't Cooper's people avoid Liston? I think they knew it wouldn't work. Foreman was a slightly more powerful fighter than Liston. Foreman was an expert at blocking/dodging left hooks. Frazier could barely land a left hook on him. The most merciful scenario for Cooper here is being cut by a Foreman jab and the fight being stopped on cuts. Otherwise he is getting put down for a 20 count.
