Was Ali The Greatest?

Boxing Was In need of a Lift of Some Kind to Make It Exciting Again

During the 60's, heavyweight boxing had literally died as sport, and to make things worst, boxing was vehemently controlled by organised gang leaders sometimes depicted as "The Mob." Boxing was clearly in need of a lift of some kind to make it exciting again to matched the golden years of heavyweight boxing during the years of Joe Louis and the 50's era. Needless to say that in the early 60's, the heavyweight division was dire in shambles and needed a hero. When Cassius Clay appeared on the boxing scene, he turned the game of the sweet boxing  science into a theatre of exciting entertainment that everyone wanted to see. The Boxing showman Cassius Clay had arrived just in time to save the Heavyweight division of boxing and release it from the dreaded pandemonium of a bad disease that had risen in the heavyweight boxing circles of the ring.

The British Fans of Cooper Was All Hyped Up.

In the meantime, we in the United Kingdom had only heard about a young unknown upstart by the name of Cassius Clay who was proclaiming himself as the greatest. The stiff upper lip aristocrats in British boxing circles was not too keen on the idea of someone who was an unknown fighter as far as they was concerned to be bragging and boasting how great he was. When they heard that this braggart Clay was coming London to fight their beloved icon Henry Cooper, the British fans of Cooper was all hyped up. The British boxing fans were hoping that the British Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion would close his mouth for good. The British boxing fans were hoping that the British and Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion would silence his mouth with his left hook known as 'Enry's 'Ammer.

Henry Cooper Was the Idol of the British Boxing Fans.

Little did they realise what would be happening in the life of Cassius Clay professional boxing career after his fight with Henry Cooper. Cassius Clay in his young boy, was right little prankster. Clay once jokingly told reporters that he was going to have four wives; one to shine his shoes, one to feed him grapes, one to rub oil on his muscles and one called Peaches. However, on the 18th of June 1963, Cassius Clay entered the ring at the world renowned Wembley Stadium in London to take on the 29 year-old British and Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion, Henry Cooper, idol of the British boxing fans, a man who could do wrong in the eyes of the British. Even though Henry Cooper had never been a world heavyweight boxing champion. He will always be their hero. And to prove that he was a hero, Henry Cooper has been knighted for his services to British Boxing.

Clay Was Unbeaten in 18 Fights, He Was Riding High With Confidence.

Clay on the other hand did not consider Henry Cooper to be any real serious threat to his desires in becoming the world heavyweight champion. Almost the whole of Britain were sat, glued in front of their television. We were all there to watch the fight between this young brash upstart kid against our idol, "Our 'Enry." Cooper boast a professional fight record of 27 wins 8 loses and 1 draw. On the day of the fight, Henry Cooper weighed in at 186lbs compared to Cassius Clay's weight of 206lbs. Cooper had won 12 of his previous 13 bouts, losing only to the American boxer Zora Folley back in 1961. Cooper's record suggest that he was quite a capable fighter who could upset Clay's dream of becoming the next world heavyweight boxing champion. Cassius Clay was unbeaten in all his 18 fights as a professional boxer, and he was riding high with confidence, and raring to have a go at the British idol, Henry Cooper.

50,000 Fans Turned Up At the Wembley Stadium

The story of the match between Henry Cooper and Cassius Clay as he was known is interesting and form the basis of how Cassius Clay would be thought of from a British boxing point of view after this fight had ended in regards to Clay's own proclamation as the greatest and especially with his upcoming title fight with the Immense giant of a man. Sony Liston. Sony Liston was the world Heavyweight champion, having dethroned Floyd Patterson by a knockout in the first round in 1962. Sonny Liston had an impressive knockout ratio, and he was a fighter that most fighters in the heavyweight division was unwilling to fight. Before the Clay-Cooper fight, Clay said that Henry Cooper was bum and a cripple, he was not worth training for. Cassius Clay had predicted the round in which he would knockout Cooper.

Was Ali The Greatest? Part 1