What was the hardest punch Ali ever took?

That's it! 11th round. I'm not sure it was the single punch, I just remember the two in succession and Ali was practically done then. They were sensational, mega-concussive shots, the second one landed flush and pristinely.

 

You’re talking to the wrong fella on that score.
I believe Ali would have survived the round.
The split glove I agree Ali got an extra 3 or 4 seconds I’ve always known that.
I know the limitations of Henry Cooper, apart from the first Folley fight he lost every time he stepped up.
The thread title though has nothing to do with any of that, it’s what was the hardest punch Ali took.
Now I wouldn’t know, and I suspect even Ali wouldn’t, but Coopers is clearly up there.

 

Ali told a live audience Shavers hit him hardest. Though I think both the Cooper, the Frazier 11th round, and THAT Foreman uppercut were right up there, too.

 

I never said it was definitely the hardest punch, and I’ve explained i’m not into the myth of the first fight.
I’m judging the punch in isolation.
It’s was obviously an extremely hard punch landed on an unprotected chin, Ali was moving backwards with his guard down.
In fact Cooper actually doesn’t get the credit for the quality of the punch,all the talk was on the controversy that followed.
It was a helluva punch.
When you actually watch the first 4 rounds of the fight Cooper was giving Ali a lot of trouble, it was a competitive fight, because Ali wasn’t taking Cooper seriously.
After the knockdown when he came out in the 5th when he had to get his arse into gear, he busted Henry up.

 

Frazier I - left hook - a bunch of them were absolutely brutal, brain damage inducing. Ali probably was hurt more by some of the earlier hooks and the ones in the 11th round than he was from the one that decked him in the 15th.
Cooper - that sharp short left hook that had him badly dazed.
Bonavena - believe it or not Oscar really hurt Ali at one point, but Ali staggered, grabbed and played it off like the master that he was. But he was badly hurt.

Honorable mention:
Norton hurt him with an accumulation of heavy blows.
Sonny Banks had him off his feet but I don't think he was particularly hurt.
Doug Jones nailed him with some pretty blows.
Shavers - I don' think Ali was as hurt in this fight as prevailing opinion would say. I actually think he was more hurt against Holmes than Shavers.

 

My opinion is I wouldn’t f****** know!

 

Only possibly.