More powerful Left Hook Joe Frazier or Henry Cooper

Are we talking about just the left hooks they dropped Ali With ? Or are we comparing their hooks in general? If we’re referring to the latter then It’s Frazier by far. If it’s the former then I’m not sure. They both decked Ali pretty hard

 

Let’s take a look. Both were vicious lefts. One was against a young Ali while the other was against a more experienced Ali but one who was tired and in the late rounds of a grueling fight. Cooper seemed to catch Ali as he was carefully coming forward while Frazier caught him already backing up .

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As a bonus clip, here’s chuck Wepner decking Ali with a right hand to the mid section.

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That was a slip

 

When I was a kid I found a book in the library- it was a how to box book by Henry Cooper. In it he said that some university people had measured the force of his left hook and that his hook, after traveling 5 inches, hit harder than a 16 pound bowling ball.
I have no idea how to measure such things and cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information.

 

If you don't see it coming, it will hurt twice as hard.

Cooper timed Ali who was clowning around and took the punch flush to the jaw. Both of Ali's hands were down and Cooper hid his left hand below the field of vision and then quickly turned it over with pinpoint accuracy and excellent leverage. That's why he dropped immediately like a sack of potatoes. Major rookie mistake. Had he seen it coming and braced himself he still may or may not have gone down, but he wouldn't have been as dazed and stumbling about slowly. Ali was hanging by a thread and looked like a drowsy kid whose dad was helping him walk to the bus stop.

Against Frazier, it looked like Ali wanted to do a right cross counter to intercept Frazier's hook. Normally, with him being the taller man with long arms and superb hand speed, it should have been relatively easy for him to do this, especially because he had seen the hook dozens of times for the previous 14 rounds. However, Frazier utilized underrated cleverness and did an intentional half assed hook to the body to give Ali a false sense of security. This convinced Ali that Frazier would go for another body shot as it was in his style to double up on blows to the body before going upstairs. Thus Ali took the bait and ended up walking into a trap. Frazier used the hook to the body as a range finder and then launched himself forward putting his body weight into a picture perfect hook. However Ali realized his mistake and glanced at the hook out the corner of his eye and braced himself a little before going down. Unlike the Cooper knockdown, he was completely clear headed and more surprised and disappointed with himself than hurt and was up at the count of 2.

Hard to say who had the more powerful hook as the circumstances that led to the knockdowns were similar yet very different and they faced very different version of Ali. I would say based on just these two moments alone Cooper's hook did more damage to Ali but that was partly because Ali was completely unprepared for it. Ironically Cooper had the unintended effect of making Ali much more cautious; rolling with shots and respecting every opponent's power.

 

Really good question but these were two different punches. Due to breaking his arm as a teenager, Joe couldn't straighten his left arm. It formed a natural, quite wide arcing hook propelled from his hips.
Cooper's shot was short and, when he launched it right, as fast as a blink. Dear old Reg Gutteridge, who saw them all, said Henry had the best left hook delivery of any Heavyweight.
While I think Reg may have forgotten Joe Louis, I would agree that Henry's shot is the rapier while Joe's hook is a club.
As regards power, they were neck and neck but aesthetically, The Hammer was a thing of beauty rather than brutality.

 

Haha he stepped on his foot

 

Well according to Ali, Cooper "hit him so hard that he jarred my kinfolk in Africa", The Greatest has spoken so that is good enough for me, "Enry's 'Ammer" it is.

 

Perhaps with the specific one that Henry hit him with at that point yes.

 

He said the same thing about Shavers right

 

watch the clip again. That didn’t look like no slip.