Henry Cooper Vs Ron Lyle

I don't really rate Lyle. He seemed to fail when fighting at championship/top level and always came up short.

 

I do not rate Lyle that much too. But outside of FoleyI and the knockdown, what did Cooper do? I will tell you; bleed and get knocked out by world class and solid opposition. Lyle is at least 'solid'.

 

He beat the usual Euro-scrubs. The question is how much better is Lyle than that group? I think he is better. However, a quick KO is probably not in the works, given all evidence from his record.

 

Jim Wicks wanted no part of Liston ,and I suspect he would feel the same about a lesser version in big Ron. Lyle too big powerful ,and strong for Henry to put a dent in.Stoppage win inside 5rds for Ron.

 

Interesting one !

No contest. Lyle beats Henry easily.

 

Very True...Lyle is overrated as a puncher and Ernie overrated as a fighter but his best was he almost got Big George...but again which punchers did Big George fight up to that point...Lyle was not a big puncher but George made him look like he was

 

You raise a valid point by noting that Lyle did not stop most of his better opponents, and that would be a fair observation if we were putting him up against someone with known durability. Henry Cooper however, was not among that fraternity.

 

Yes, even as devil's advocate, I find it a stretch to give Henry too much of a shot here.

 

If Ron Lyle could hammer George Foreman to the deck and almost finish him off then what would he do to poor Henry Cooper? I would hate to watch it.

 

Foreman came right at him, and was all messed up from loss to Ali, he started rushing to get ko, or would try to show he could last. Foreman was swinging wide open, standing right there with Lyle, who was doing same. Cooper would be totally different fight.

 

Its got to be a win for Lyle

 

Outside of the world champions of his era (floyd, LIston, ali, ingo, frazier) cooper was as good as anyone. People forget how well the european heavyweights did against american contenders in this period. This was not the 1980's where the american heavyweights were leagues above europeans, the ratings were full of them and they beat american contenders all the time. outside of ingo cooper was the best.

Lyle fought in the 1970s, there was quality around then also. I would not put lyle above foreman, ali, joe frazier, larry holmes or even jerry quarry and ken Norton but like cooper in his era was a match for the rest of them.

Both henry and ron lyle fought joe bugner. did lyle do that much better job on bugner? I dont think so. I think it is a 50-50 fight. peak cooper was the better boxer. he hit harder than ali who knocked out lyle and could match quarry for left hooks. cooper was a genuine 15 round fighter unlike lyle. henry boxed 15 rounds 4 times at a good level against fighters rated in the world top ten. There is a case for giving the smaller man the edge.

 

He really beat Joe Bugner, let's be honest. That was a robbery.

Lyle wasn't that durable. If Cooper lands enough I could see him KOing Lyle given the opportunity.

 

Its fair to say they both beat bugner. ausie joe would be the one to ask, but since henry was so bitter about their fight I doubt bugner would ever give cooper any credit.