John Conteh v Henry Cooper

I think even for a great light heavyweight to be a success against top class heavyweights they need to be in the top end of the size bracket for that weight class like joey maxim, jose peralta, willie pastrano and doug jones. It has always been the case.

interestingly even the taller bob foster was of too slight a build to succeed as well as Archie moore and tommy laughran could against world class 200 pounders.

 

Johnson was 196lbs for that fight.
Bygraves feather fisted? Of his 42 wins, 22 were by stoppage .Check him out against Gerhard Zech.

 

MCVEY - Just a quick thank you for pointing out my Zora (Folly) re Bygraves - I did mean to put Erskine, ! - I think Amos Johnson was a bit of a scavenger, swooping on opponents Mistake Material, Conteh with his more aggressive attitude i feel actually causes that Mistake Material, It may be that Henry had an off night and on another night might of found Amos's chin, But Henry did Sometimes have that erratic element as against Roger Rischer, I would indeed have to go with Conteh.

Thanks Area53

 

This is an excellent fight, but I think Cooper's left hook makes all the difference. For a 187 lbs fighter, Cooper could really bang with that hook. Cooper also had a left jab that was every bit as good as Conteh's. Overall, Conteh was the more talented, more fluid boxer, but I don't think he could contend with Cooper's steady jab and powerful left hook. Watch Conteh's fights on youtube. You'll see that he can be hit and hurt. That's all I need to know to realize that Cooper wins this fight.

 

I'd have to pick Henry Cooper at his best to beat John Conteh.
He has wins over a few fighters I'd rate better than Conteh as HWs.

 

Most of the times he was hurt was post-Parlov at 175 though, where he wasn't the same fighter that would be going up against Cooper, conteh was one of those fighters where durability seemed to go quite quickly once he started to decline, probably in part to the bad training and lack of desire.I doubt anyone would argue if a 1978/80 Conteh bulked up and fought a peak Cooper he would really struggle.

But as Area 53 said, it was always a good sneak-right hand he was more vulnerable to if he wasn't sharp(and just in general if you have a good enough one).He was excellent at subtly picking off and deflecting hooks with his glove, or slipping them.

It would be tough for cooper to get his best shot in, especially as it was such a well known weapon for him.

I also think Conteh had more than enough power to badly hurt Cooper himself if he gets good punches in.

It's an intriguing fight though.I don't want to oversell what we saw of Conteh against heavies, but Cooper is a step up in competition at the weight i think he could have triumphed over.I pick him against Haye as well, though not Bugner or Bruno.Farr could be too much if he uses his durability and brawls and would do better against the overall field, but i could see him losing too if he keps things to the outside and stands off trading jabs at ring-centre.

 

Conteh had the sharper boxing skills and sufficient thump in his punches to cut-up the 'cut prone' Cooper. But Cooper had an aggressive style, with obvious KO power in his left hook and was slightly the bigger man. Would this have thrown off Conteh's style sufficiently to allow Cooper to bring down his hammer for a kayo or to pound out a points win is the moot point.

My heart wants Cooper to win.

My head says that Conteh, rocked a few times, probably will win a fight cut short by stoppage due to cuts.

But my gut [feeling] says that 'Enery will pull out that kayo win.

Now I have confused myself and don't know what to think!