The Time Tunnel: Remembering Clay-Cooper

Photo: BBC

By Jeff Day

14.11.2002 - There can't be that many sports that have the kind of folklore that boxing has.

Of course, there is so much material for a fight fan to work with. The fact is at times it's difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction, myth or reality.

Did Jack Johnson take a dive against Willard? Was the Dempsey-Tunney long count really a long count? Was Liston really hurt by Ali's phantom punch?

Well, in the United Kingdom the fight that has perhaps perpetuated the greatest myth of them all has to be the 18 June 1963 meeting between British folk hero Henry Cooper and a man, then just a brash young upstart from the United States, Cassius Clay.

Henry had proved himself clearly the best heavyweight in Britain, although that could be akin to President Bush being the brightest President this year! However, he had a terrific left hook that could knock out an ox if he timed it right, though was hampered by cuts around the eyes on several occasions. He was a converted southpaw; thus he favoured the left hand heavily.

At his best he weighed around 186lbs and would, therefore, be a cruiserweight today. At the time of the Clay fight, Henry had had 36 professional fights and lost 8 of them. In fact, in the early part of his career, the idea he would be a contender for sport's richest prize was laughable.

In fact, he suffered four defeats in five fights between September 1956 and September 1957. Although in fairness, one of the three defeats was a fifth round knockout defeat by future World champion Ingemar Johansson in a bid for the European title in Stockholm, Sweden.

In October 1958, Cooper outpointed Zora Folley over ten rounds in London. This was an excellent result given as Folley was rated highly in the world rankings. Folley, would be Clay/Ali's last opponent before "The Greatest" went into enforced exile in 1967.

Victory over Brian London for the Empire (now Commonwealth) and British heavyweight titles followed this. This was in the middle of an eight fight winning streak, which was brought to an abrupt end in a rematch with Folley, again in London, in December 1961. Zora was in top form and blew Henry away in two rounds. It was, and would remain, the quickest defeat of Cooper's career.

Henry then won four in a row, including one over old nemesis Joe Erskine in April 1962 - a man Cooper met five times as a professional and three times as an amateur - and Welshman Dick Richardson in March 1963.

It seems a pointless exercise trying to tell anyone anything new about Cassius Marcellus Clay because anyone reading this article will have heard the stories time and again. Oh well, in that case, one more time won't matter!

Cassius had won 18 fights in a row since turning professional after winning Olympic light-heavyweight gold in Rome. Clay's verbose persona had made him a media man's dream, perhaps more so than did his boxing style: hands down, leaning back from punches and dancing like a flyweight. A man with that style could not possibly be taken seriously.

True, he came to London for his meeting with Cooper as clear favourite, but he had struggled in his last fight against Doug Jones, winning a disputed ten round decision in Madison Square Garden in March 1963.

He had also been floored by Sonny Banks in February 1962 by...a left hook, Henry's honey punch.

And so, in front of 35,000 fans in Wembley Stadium, London, perhaps the most famous fight in British ring history was to take place. Henry was his usual modest self; Clay, meanwhile, had been calling Cooper a "Bum". If Cooper lasted more than five rounds, the American claimed, he would not return to the United States for 30 days!

When Cassius entered the Wembley ring wearing a cardboard crown on his head, with a robe bearing "The Greatest" on his back, the crowd, already baying for Clay's blood, were in a frenzy singing "Hen-ery, Hen-ery, Hen-ery".

The first round saw the Briton unusually aggressive, as he laid into Clay (207lbs), rushing him to the ropes and immediately trying to land the left hook. Henry roughed up his opponent, and Clay, probably for the first time in his boxing life was bleeding from the nose. Cassius was complaining to referee Tommy Little about the rough tactics employed by the Englishman. Cooper, though outweighed by more than 20lbs, had won the first clearly and the crowd were going crazy.

Round two saw Henry again trying to rough up the American. This round though, Clay was more composed as he glided out of the way and began to pump the left jab with enough accuracy to have Cooper nicked by Cooper's right eye. It was Clay's round.

The third saw Clay moving gracefully as Henry pursued, though could not catch his fleet footed opponent - at least not yet. As Cooper moved in closer, Clay threw a chopping right hand that opened a gash on Henry's left eyebrow. It seemed a matter of time before eye trouble would once again thwart "Our 'Enry". Cassius played with Cooper for the rest of the round, standing right in front of him, opening his arms and generally trying to humiliate Henry.

Before round four, one of Clay's managers, Phil Faversham shouted to his man to stop messing about and to get down to work. This Clay did, though still would not go all out. He had predicted a five round win and appeared to carry Cooper until he decided enough was enough.

With seconds remaining at the end of the fourth, Clay had his back to the ropes, when Cooper unleashed a savage left hook, "Enry's 'Ammer". The punch landed bang on Cassius' jaw and he fell, backwards on to the ropes and then down. He got up at about three or four, then the bell sounded. There was pandemonium in Wembley Stadium.

What happened now is the stuff of ring folklore: Clay was in a bad way. He was helped to his stool by trainer Angelo Dundee. Dundee slapped his legs and he was given what looked like smelling salts in the corner. He looked in shock; wide eyes staring in bewilderment.

Dundee called the referee over to the corner and told him Clay had a torn right glove. The referee called a steward, who went back to the dressing room to get a new glove for the American. The films of the fight prove that the glove had been split in the fourth round. Dundee had exaggerated the tear, by pulling the horsehair from the glove. The glove, incidentally, was never changed.

Depending on who's version of events you believe, the interval between rounds four and five was anything from two to six minutes in duration. It has been timed officially as 65 seconds. Yes, that's right, just five seconds longer than it should have been. Myth exploded!

The bell for round five went. Suddenly, British fans were believing we had a man at last, who could beat a top American and go on to fight for the World heavyweight championship. One more clean punch on the chin would surely do it.

Clay came out and stood flatfooted. His punching was fast, furious and deadly accurate. The punches bounced off Cooper's head before he could even set himself to punch back. Cooper's left eye began to pour blood like a burst pipe. Although not dazed or seriously hurt, Cooper could not possibly go on. He looked like a man who had put his head in a shredder.

Referee Tommy Little had no option but to stop the fight. Clay's prediction of a fifth round win had come to fruition, though not without a mighty scare. Even ringside spectator Elizabeth Taylor had been screaming for the fight to be stopped!

Henry became a hero overnight in Britain and would transcend boxing. He would fight on for a further eight years. A rematch with Muhammad Ali in 1966 (as he was then, of course), saw Ali win in the sixth. Muhammad was much more respectful of Cooper this time and barely took a punch of any description.

In interviews over the years, Henry has stated that the interval between rounds four and five was three or four minutes. I am sure Henry genuinely believes that to be true. It is not, however. I wonder how different history would have been had Cooper's punch landed a minute earlier. Whatever, Clay went on to fight Liston in 1964 and, well...you know the rest.