For those who were alive at the time, (I am too young and was born way after the fight happend), what was your opinion on Clay after his first fight with Henry Cooper? Just curious.
I wasn't around then, but I'd imagine people would have seen him as complacent - the way he just "turned it on" after Cooper caught him and totally outclassed him for a round.
I saw the fight on WW of Sports. You could tell he was good.....but I didn't think he could beat Liston. But he did qualify as the No. 1 Contender.
It certainly appeared that Clay had undergone one of those natural "growth Spurts" between Cooper and Liston, I suspect Sonny and his camp had a skinny loud-mouthed Kid in mind when they signed to fight clay, but as they came together for the ref's instructions it was clear that the Skinny kid had grown more solid and was maturing and developing into a young adult, a very athletic one at that. by contrast an overconfident Sonny was on the downside, particularly when intimadation did not work.
