The original Boxing News ringside report on when Henry Cooper met Cassius Clay, as Muhammad Ali was then known
CASSIUS Marcellus Clay, the 21-year-old American, known as the
Louisville Lip, the Louisville Loudmouth, Gorgeous Cassius,
self-described as the handsomest, greatest heavyweight of all time,
correctly prophesied the round in which he would defeat
Henry Cooper on the famous Cup Final pitch.
But Henry did not FALL in five, as Cassius had predicted. London
referee, Tommy Little, rightly intervened because Cooper’s eye, which
was cut in the second round, was gradually aggravated and could not be
repaired.
It was a dramatic climax to the most feverish big fight in Britain for many, many years.
The televised weigh-in, which took place on the stage of Britain’s
most famous variety theatre, the London Palladium, attracted a record
crowd.
Unfortunately for promoter Jack Solomons and Cooper and Clay, who
were fighting for a percentage of “the gate”, there had been a steady
downpour of rain most of the day and although the weather improved in
the evening, there were many empty seats in the 90,000 capacity stadium.
The crowd, who had taken part in community singing to the
accompaniment of the band of the Coldstream Guards, broke out into a
tremendous roar as the two gladiators entered the darkened stadium.
They were followed from their dressing rooms on opposite sides of the
arena by powerful searchlights and ring-centre fanfares by the
Coldstream men.
Clay, who considers himself already king of the heavyweights, wore a
red and white ankle length dressing gown on the back of which was
emblazoned the words:
CASSIUS CLAY
THE GREATEST
And he wore a crown.
Cooper contented himself with a simple blue and white gown which carried the words:
HENRY COOPER
ENGLAND
It looked like a relic from his amateur days, for it resembled an old Amateur Boxing Association gown.
The crowd were cheering Cooper and booing the boastful young braggart
Clay, and were imploring Henry to “Give him one! And “Put one on him”
as they prepared to go into action.
And Henry duly obliged in a sensational fourth round.
At that stage the Englishman’s cornermen could not properly mend his
eye injury and Henry was becoming desperate. He was throwing punches
wildly in an effort to try and pull the fight out of the fire.
Clay, who could sense that the end was near, was almost taunting Cooper.
The American youngster held his hands low and instead of moving
inside the reckless hooks of the now anxious Cooper, he was just swaying
away from them and replying with clusters of counter punches.
But this aggravating swaying nearly caused an explosion in that fourth round.
As Cassius moved back he rolled right into the arc of Cooper’s left hook and down he went.
The Greatest Handsomest Heavyweight of All Time was sprawling in that
London ring with the rain pouring steadily and the fans going crazy
with excitement. They made so much noise that even few ringsiders could
hear the count.
Cooper, his eye bleeding profusely, was waiting to pounce on Clay
with what all Britishers were hoping might be the upset punch of the
decade. But the somewhat shaken American, his nose now bleeding, rose at
four, just before the bell ended the round.
He may have suffered more from pride than physical hurt and he
certainly seemed an angry young man when he came up for THE ROUND – the
fifth.
Hitherto we thought he had been treating Cooper too casually and had been content to make Henry miss.
Now he shot into top gear. Now we saw those fast punches we had heard so much about.
Peering out of his one sound eye, Cooper was at a tremendous
disadvantage. He could not see the stream of rights that Clay pumped
into him. He was slow of foot and trying to conduct the battle with only
one sound eye. And that is impossible against a fast puncher like Clay.
Although he was fighting back bravely, Henry was becoming an almost
helpless target for a fighter who appeared to be just opening up for the
last lap.
Before the round was half a minute old Cooper fans were yelling,
“Stop it”, and when the round was only 1 minute 15 secs. Old referee
Little stepped between them, called Clay off and escorted the gallant
Briton to his corner.
Again they cheered Cooper and booed Clay, which we thought was most unfair, for it had been an extremely clean fight.
Clay had been proved right. He won on the fifth round, as he said he
would, and although a cut eye stoppage is not a satisfactory victory, it
is a manner in which many fights have come to an end.
Henry Cooper did not let us down. He gave the classy Clay a great fight.
In fact he carried the fight to his opponent in the first two rounds
when his dangerous left hooks whistled mighty dangerously round Clay’s
ears. Clay was forced to hold in the first round and was admonished by
the referee, who halted the proceedings and wagged a warning finger at
Cass. As they broke away in the first round, Cooper chased his man to
the ropes and hooked away furiously with both hands.
Clay did not like this outburst of belligerence from the Bellingham man he had so often described as “A Bum”.
He was forced to back away and more than once looked to the referee
for help when Cooper, showing an unusual streak of aggression, hit him
at the end of the break.
In the second round Cooper again dominated the attacking and Clay was
made to make full use of the ring to avoid Henry’s wild swings.
It was in this round that Cooper’s eye trouble began.
He realised that if he had any chance it was right here and now and
he made us feel quite proud as he chased and badgered his American
rival.
But Clay, although hurt at times, kept out of danger and by the third round had the fight almost under control.
He allowed the now anxious and impatient Cooper to spend himself.
Cassius held his hands temptingly low and Henry almost threw himself at
Clay in order to try and land one of those jaw hooks. But the lad from
Louisville, now almost tauntingly moved just out of harm’s way, then
flashed in suddenly with fast combinations, against which the British
champion had no defence.
This was the pattern of the fight in the third round and well into
the fourth when Henry hung that historic hook on to the jaw of The Lip.
As we mentioned earlier, Cassius rose and the bell prevented us from
seeing if Cooper could have followed up his unexpected advantage or Clay
would have been goaded into more positive action.
During the interval it was discovered that Clay’s left glove had
burst. We do know that he came out for The Round – the fifth – in a mean
mood. He was throwing punches at a fast rate and Cooper’s face was
being rather cut up when he was stopped.
After the fight Clay switched from jeering to cheering Cooper.
“He’s no longer a bum,” said Clay. “He hit me harder than anybody else I have met.”
Hard luck, Henry. Congratulations, Cass. It was good seeing you.
Weights – Cooper: 13st 3lbs. Clay: 14st 11lbs.
The site of a car bomb attack in Sanaa, Yemen, on June 18, 2015. (AP / Hani Mohammed)