Cooper 39-36 Clay - Respect!!

Just seen this fight for the first time and wow did Cooper beat Clay to the punch for a lot of it and find him very well. Seen his heavyweight record and he's a Brit of distinction.....

Always thought he just got lucky and ditched Ali in the 4th...but no it was a good quality fight..

Never understood the negativity towards henry on here..I mean I had him winning over Bugner by a mile.....

Quality performance by a quality operator who deserves respect in anybodys book

Some would say the moral winner over Ali in the first fight. Many said Ali looked at sea after the knockdown and having seen it myself I feel inclined to agree. Had the glove not coincidently torn at that precise moment who knows what would have happened next.

Cooper didn't strike me as near ATG material but one thing is for certain after that night, he'd fight anyone and not give them an easy time. On another thought, if only his face wasn't another thing that was liable to tearing...

He fought very well and p4p must be one of the best Heavy hitters...

Brit alltime great for sure...

Sadly, knowsit, Cooper wouldn't fight anyone. He is quite frank in his autobiography that neither he nor his manager would go anywhere near either Sonny Liston or Joe Frazier under any circumstances. Cooper also turned down a world title shot against Patterson in 1959 (which went to Brian London instead).

He might just get into the top 50 British fighters of all time, although that's debatable; he is not among the top 5 British heavyweights, in my opinion. A record of 41-14 or whatever it was is not that of an all-time great, British or otherwise.

Isnt that whole glove tearing thing a myth? I heard there was only about a 7 second or so delay?

Also I heard Clay took this fight very lightly - once he got put down - he realised Cooper wasnt a pushover and systematically destroyed him from the next round.

Clay (as he was) had predicted that Cooper would go in the fifth and was indeed mucking about for a large part of the fight. He was still clowning when Cooper caught him with that terrific punch. Henry was undoubtedly a good finisher and it might have been interesting to have seen what would have happened if that punch had taken place after thirty seconds of the round, rather than about 2 mins 40. As an older Ali managed to roll over and get up against Frazier, having been knocked down after one minute of the 15th round of a gruelling title fight, I'm prepared to bet that the younger Ali would have passed the test against Cooper. As dazzstar notes, Ali subsequently went out and ripped Henry apart in the appointed fifth round.

Dazzstar is also right about the delay, which I have seen timed at 6 seconds - there is debate about the exact figure. It certainly wasn't the minute or two minutes that legend would have us believe.

Thought so Captain. Thanks for clearing that up.

No disrespect to Henry at all great British fighter - but he had no chance with Clay/Ali.

I stand corrected Captain, I'll admit that that fight is far from my expertise. I can only agree that the KD happening earlier in the round would have been fascinating.

Dazstarr, I think "no chance" is a harsh conclusion, you only have to look at Ali's state after Cooper connected to realize that Henry had a very realistic chance in the first fight. In boxing terms he had no chance, agreed but that fight is living proof of the difference between hypothesis and reality.

Knowsit17 wrote:I stand corrected Captain, I'll admit that that fight is far from my expertise. I can only agree that the KD happening earlier in the round would have been fascinating.

Dazstarr, I think "no chance" is a harsh conclusion, you only have to look at Ali's state after Cooper connected to realize that Henry had a very realistic chance in the first fight. In boxing terms he had no chance, agreed but that fight is living proof of the difference between hypothesis and reality.

Dont agree mate - like Captain said - Ali was fooling around, didnt take Henry seriously - until that punch landed.

If he did take it seriously - that punch wouldnt have landed as Ali would have been switched on and either blocked it or slipped it.

A punchers chance at best mate. Out skilled and out gunned all the way for Ali.

Dazstarr wrote:If he did take it seriously - that punch wouldnt have landed as Ali would have been switched on and either blocked it or slipped it.

Exactly. As I said, if we were speaking hypothetically then you'd be mostly right in saying that Cooper had no chance. But as it was it didn't turn out that way at first, Ali got smashed and as the reality of it panned out, you can hardly say that Cooper had no chance in the first fight, especially when taking into consideration that Ali had to be steered back to his corner (illegally).

Look at the amount of times Cooper gets through with his left....

bonafide 39-36..Cooper's speed shocked him and me..