Smelling Salts In Boxing?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/bo...d-Cassius-Clay-50-years-ago--Jeff-Powell.html

Good read from a recent story.

 

Only had salts used on me once and I still remember it clearly, geese never again by choice!

 

Ali was gone. He got up of his stool halfway through the break. The smelling salts brought him back to reality, so I can categorically say that they did help(I have picked up on your sarcasm!).

Hard for Ali diehards to take, but little Henry Cooper was on the verge of knocking Ali out before Dundee intervened.

 

I think Cooper was south of 180 for that fight, still packed a mean hook

 

Even accepting all that a smaller fighter has to deal with, as far as punching goes I think this fight provides all the proof anyone should need that a perfect punch by a world class puncher over 175lb is enough to take out anyone. ALI was gone.

 

Ali was hurt, and yes the salts did perk him up a bit while he was in the corner, but let's not get carried away. He got decked and got back up within 4 seconds. It wasn't as if he was down for an extended period or wobbled all over the place after he rose. I think it is pretty well established that Ali had an amazing ability to take it and get up and survive and recover even after being hurt or decked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frn3rTj5DOY

Start at 7:20

I think it would be an interesting research topic for someone to find out exactly when smelling salts actually were banned in boxing. My suspicion is it wasn't until the 1980s in the U.S., but I'm not sure.

 

I just re watched it. ALI was sleep walking when he got up. If Cooper had of been let at him in that condition it would have been curtains. Ali was gone. Even when Ali sits down he looks like he is about to pass out all over again. Dundee slaps his leg and he stands up without knowing where he is! They wrench him back onto the stool and ice pack his face, rub him, shake him, nothing works until they revive him with the illegal salts.

Cooper always said he would gave expected his corner to do exactly the same, so there is no hard feelings about it but the smelling salts, the bell, his youth and an experienced corner really helped Ali out.

 

Who ever did put Ali out? NO ONE. Not Frazier in three fights, Norton in three fights, not Foreman, Sonny Banks, Doug Jones, Oscar Bonavena, Floyd Patterson (twice), Jerry Quarry (twice), Earnie Shavers, Ron Lyle, Henry Cooper in two fights, Chuvalo (twice), Folley, Williams, not even Holmes. Ali would have gladly taken that pummeling and gone 15 and had his brains totally bashed into a mushy soup. Heck not even Berbick. But you don't think Ali with a full minute of rest after a knockdown could have survived and beaten Cooper, a guy who got stopped by six guys other than Ali (who stopped him twice on cuts), including in that very same fight in the very next round? If ever Ali was going to get stopped it was in Frazier I, for he took hellacious pin-point accurate bombs right on the jaw throughout that entire fight, bombs with everything a prime Frazier had, including late in the fight when fatigue and cumulative wear and tear are a factor and most humans would have been out cold from that beating, and still he managed to survive and last the full 15 rounds.

But I agree with the point someone made that weight is overrated. Even a man of 185 or so can drop an iron-chinned Ali. That is why I think punchers like Dempsey, Louis, Marciano, etc. could do a whole lot better with big men than people think. Hell, even guys like Shavers and Weaver in their primes weren't that huge, but if they hit anyone properly on the jaw, regardless of size, they could go bye-bye.

 

That was me who mentioned that weight was overrated.

Cooper rather than Frazier came the closest to stopping Ali though. I've heard all the excuses, that he was coasting to make good on his 5 round prediction, that he looked down at the wrong time to catch a glimpse of Liz Taylor and Richard Burton in the audience. The fact is Cooper caught Ali fair and square earlier in a fight than anyone else did and required the assistance of illegal substance to be revived enough to turn things around.

 

The only time I think Henry was less than 185 was when he over trained for the world title fight and cut too much weight. I know you were around then mcvey but Didn't Cooper carry weights in his shoes or something?

 

I don't think anyone is arguing against Ali's recuperative powers or his resolve to win. Ali had those attributes in spades. The film of the Cooper fight shows that he was badly hurt, he visibly looks more hurt by Cooper's shot than by Frazier's knockdown of him. He walks back to his corner in an eerily similar manner to Floyd Patterson in the first Johansson fight. I think the evidence shows pretty clearly that Ali was disoriented. Had the round not ended I think Ali very well might have been stopped. Given that the round did end, there is a good chance Ali would have sufficiently recovered even with out the smelling salts to survive and win regardless. However Dundee did use them and for that he should have been penalized even DQ'd if that was rule.

 

I agree. Ali winning that fight is historically more important than Cooper getting a freak win. Cooper was cut but that knockdown coming when it did so close to the bell helped Ali.

Holmes survived SHavers and Ali Survived Cooper. I don't know that Holmes was given smelling salts in the corner but if he had and went on to win (like he did) I would expect it to be considered that part of Larry's recovery was owed to the salts.

 

He got up and walked to the corner because the bell had rung.

Sonny Banks knocked Ali down well before Cooper did, and the left hook that did it was beautiful as well. But Ali got up and took care of business. Start around 1:40. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGxpc1EeKk0

The real question that needs to be answered is whether smelling salts actually were illegal. I suspect that they were not illegal, but I don't think this question should be answered by speculation. IF they were illegal, then one would have a good argument that Ali (then Clay) should have been disqualified. But then, don't you think they would have done that back then, given that he was an American fighting in England? Why wouldn't they seize upon that to help out their countryman if indeed it was illegal? It was obvious and right there on the film. You would have heard them moaning about it for years and years. Yet, nothing. That leads me to believe it was not illegal.

BTW, I think I read that Dempsey was given smelling salts in the corner in the Firpo fight. It seems to have been a part of boxing until the days when they started caring about fighters being brought to and then sent out to get concussed again. But I don't think they had any cares about that back in the 60s, nor in the 70s. But I could be wrong.