He wasn`t ready for that shot, the shots ine vids above were far harder, Cooper was lighter than Frazier and Shavers, he was really light.
You`re wrong about li not being hurt by Cooper, he was about to be stopped, the ending of the round and the torn glove saved him, but he wa fooling around and Frazier and Shavers hit him a lot harder.
I think the third Norton fight is unique because if you asked me the following questions, my answers would be: Who do you think did more work? Answer: Norton Who do you think gave the better performance? Answer: Norton Who do you think landed more punches? Answer: Norton Who do you think landed more power punches? Answer: Norton Who do you think won the fight? Answer: Ali I can't think of any other fight where a boxer met the 'criteria' for the first 4 points but not the fifth. I thought Ali won by 8 rounds to 7 and mostly won his rounds narrowly whereas Norton won his more comfortably. If the fight was scored 10 to 9.5 for a narrow round and 10 to 9 for a comfortable but not dominant round then I'd have Norton as the winner. Norton should have disregarded the terrible advice of his corner to coast through the last round because they thought the fight was in the bag. He had nothing to gain by doing that. Even if Norton had an unassailable lead, Ali won have needed a knockout in the last round and that was never going to happen. Norton threw away the last round and in doing so threw away the title that was in his grasp.
it was a punch, he was stunned. But if you look at how ali took harder punchers many many many many times, you would know he would not have been stopped. on the other hand we can say with certainty that ali when not messing, stopped cooperman in minutes, literally. Twice.
This is a good point. People exaggerate the cooper knockdown as though Ali was on the verge of death and a single jab would take him out. If Ali was That badly hurt he wouldn't have gone for the stoppage so soon. He's the type to give himself time to recover, he would have clinched or tried to move. He showed cooper no respect both fights and battered him despite being caught with a good shot.
Quite literally, if Ali had been focused all that time, he would have stopped Coop inside 4 or 5 each time. The Englishman had zero chance. contrast with frazier, with had ali all over the place hanging on after getting up. and ali also told us shavers hit him hardest - with this backed up by several others.
I don`t Ali would have tried to stop Cooper, he would have been overpowered, best way to stop Cooper would have been for Ali to punish him from the outside with lots of movement never letting Cooper inside with his hook.
The fight was stopped on cuts, Cooper was known for getting cut, it wasn`t a jab, it was the feared 'enry`s hammer' his left hook which was sharp as hell.
It only gave Ali a few extra seconds. The whole story about the gap between the 4th and 5th rounds being hugely extended is indeed a myth.
Probably from Shavers when he was rocked but play acted like it didn't hurt. He rode with Foreman's punches and didn't look to be hurt in that fight, at least by any headshots. Of course, he was faded by the Shavers fight in comparison to when he faced Foreman
Ali never looked in trouble against Foreman but he was so obviously hurt by Shavers' right hand that I don't understand how Shavers couldn't see that. I mean he was closer to Ali than anyone! I would have thought that Shavers would have had enough confidence in his own punching power to know that any clean shot that lands is going to badly hurt his opponent, especially if he wobbles and has to hold onto the ropes for support!
I know the fight was stopped on cuts. The point was Ali showed no fear and went for the stoppage but armchair experts insist Ali was on the verge of being kod and had no durability left. He didnt have any fear which isnt what youd expect if he was so badly hurt.
