They fight in close quarters from the opening bell and exchange punches, Cooper getting the better of it and wobbling Frazier. At the start of the second round, Frazier goes down from a big overhand right that connects when he's in process of throwing a left hook. Joe gets up and ships a more bombs, but stays on his feet. Cooper is desperately trying to finish Joe, but becomes arm weary and at the end of the round, Joe is giving as good as he's taking. 20-17 Cooper. The rest between rounds has done Frazier well, as he comes out the fresher man of the two when the bell for the third round sounds. He ups the pace while Cooper is looking for a breather. Bert takes several power shots but doesn't seem to be impressed. 29-27 Cooper. During the 4th, Frazier really starts to get into his rhythm and hammers those left hooks to the liver and temple. Cooper retaliates and lands a few in return, but Frazier is doing most of the work. 38-37 Cooper. Bert still can't get the breather that he's looking for since the second round where he went all out looking for a finish. His defence does not look good enough to last against Frazier who seems to be unstoppable right now with fluent hooks, uppercuts and even the odd overhand right. At the end of the round, Cooper goes down to a knee from a left hook to the body, and takes the full nine counts in a desperate attempt to get a second wind. After five rounds, the scorecard reads 47-47 all even, but not many think those are going to be needed. As the 6th round start, Cooper comes out bombing, but simply doesn't seem to be effective anymore. Frazier covers up and ducks most of them, before forcing a dead tired Cooper to the ropes and right now it's almost asif Frazier is working the heavy bag. Left, right straight, double left hook. Not unlike 7th and 11th round of Ali-Frazier I. Cooper is using his cross-armed defence but at least half of the punches are getting through; particularly the left hook/right uppercut combination is working beautiful. Yank Durham is screaming "Finish him!!" from the corner, and Joe does just that as he smashes Cooper to the canvas. Miraculously, Cooper gets up but it's all Frazier and the referee steps in as he continues to take more punishment on the ropes while Frazier seems to get stronger after each punch he throws. Frazier TKO6 Cooper in a great brawl.
Interestingly enough, Bert Cooper trained under Joe Frazier for part of his career, explaining some of the stylistic similarities. One has to wonder how this might impact an actual meeting between the two, given that both have a fair amount of knowledge of the other.
This would be an exciting slugfest with both men giving as good as they got. Cooper would have success early on, maybe even flooring frazier. He wouldn't be able to finish him, however (he was not a great finisher) and frazier would begin to gain momentum and begin his usual process of wearing down his opponent. It would be somewhat similar to frazier-quarry in that cooper would fail to discourage frazier with his punches and would eventually wilt under fraziers body attack and constant pressure. Cooper, having nothing left, would take a steady pounding along the ropes before being rescued by the referee. Smokin' Joe by 8th round tko.
Joe was Bert's Mentor. I used to see Bert & Marvis spar at the gym. Joe would chew Bert up and spit him out.
The only thing that stopped Cooper from being a champ was Joe's heart. Bert would go down ever when he wasn't that hurt. Bert would start off fast and have an early lead, only to burn himself out and get tko'd
frazier in a short, exciting give and take brawl...but joe is several levels above bert.....heart, power, skill....joe edges it all.....class tells..frazier within four rounds by decapitating left hook..obviously!!