Henry Cooper Gave a Good Account of HimselfThe British took an instant dislike to Clay. A crowd of 50,000 fans turned up at Wembley Stadium to see the fight. Meanwhile, almost every house hold in the United Kingdom would be tuned in to watch fight on TV. All Britain was hoping for a miracle. The bell rang for round one and Clay came out of his corner dancing around on his toes, within a minute of the action a left jab from Cooper bloodied Clay's nose, it was noticeable that Cooper left hand jabs was causing Clay a few problems. In the second round Clay came out dancing and that round Clay was outscoring Cooper, but by no means was this fight a one sided affair. Henry Cooper gave a good account of himself and everyone in Britain who saw Cooper performance felt proud to be British. Cooper Flattened Cassius Clay With His 'AmmerEarly in the third round of the fight Clay threw a right cross at cooper which open up an old wound above Cooper's left eye. Instead of Clay trying to finish off Cooper, Clay began his dancing tactics with hands by his side and only throwing punches when it was necessary to keep Henry off stride in an attempt to keep the fight going until the predicted 5th round. In the fourth round Clay was up to his usual antics keeping his hands low and making faces at Cooper, while for his part Cooper kept on moving forward, the suddenly the complexion of the fight changed, Cooper connected with a left hook right on the button to send Clay reeling, dropping him to take a seat on his bottom with his hands leaning against the bottom ropes. It was a perfectly time left hook from Cooper just before the bell rang to end the fourth round. We In England Saw It All, Ali Will Remain in Our Memory Banks ForeverWhatever sports writers and others who saw the fight may think. Clay was listless, it was only for the quick thinking guile of his trainer Angelo Dundee that saved Cassius Clay or else he would have probably lost his undefeated record to Cooper that night. Further to that, he was lucky that the bell rang when it did to end the round in the dying seconds of the fight. But right there and then, it proved that Cassius Clay was susceptible to the left hand punch if it was timed right. Clay through his recuperative powers, enabled him to win the fight in the 5th round. From this fight Clay went on to wrest the world heavyweight boxing crown from Sonny Liston and retained it by knocking out Sonny Liston whilst fighting as Muhammad Ali. Ali fought Henry Cooper again in 1966. Though he won easily, this time Muhammad Ali was more respectful of Henry Cooper. We in England saw it all, Ali will remain in our memory banks forever. Ali Returned To The Ring In 1971 Against Frazier As the People's ChampionMuhammad Ali continued winning fights and was still undefeated when the powers to be took both his Championship title and his license to box, on top of that they imposed a ten thousand dollar fine due to his refusal of being inducted into the Army to fight for his country against Vietnam. Ali returned to the ring in 1971 as the People's Champion and after having just two warm up fights, he challenged Smokin' Joe Frazier for the Heavyweight Championship. A left hook from Frazier in the "Fight of the Century" found its mark, and Smokin' Joe was still the undefeated champion at the end of the fight having won by a unanimous decision. During Ali's boxing career he has never been knockout. Three towering rough and tough fights with Joe Frazier, then the "Rumble in the Jungle" with Foreman to win back his title were the greatest bouts witness in the history of boxing. |
Muhammad Ali Has Never Been Knocked Out One has to appreciate the trials and tribulations Ali went through with boxing authorities and government officials. 3½ years is a devil of a long time for a boxer to be away from the fight action. It takes a great fighter to be sidelined for that length of time to return to the ring and did what Ali done. In comparison to Joe Louis, Ali fought all the great Heavyweights mostly rated top ten fighters who are considered all time great fighters. Joe Louis has never fought a top ten boxer during his whole career. Ali fought three of the toughest boxers namely Frazier, Sony Liston and George Foreman. Neither of these boxers could knockout Ali. Muhammad Ali has never been knocked out in his professional fight career. Those 3½ years in solitude from the boxing ring took away the edge off Muhammad Ali's speed punching. | |
