I remember that fight, long time ago!

But no ceegar...Beautiful left hook, though. Too bad about the eye on Cooper as I think he could have possibly beat him

Very evenly matched. Had the knockdown occurred at the beginning or middle of round four instead of the end, he may well have ended it there. Regardless, had Cooper not suffered the bad cut over his eye, he had a fair chance of winning by knockout thereafter, or by decision.

I had just celebrated my second birthday when this fight occurred. I remember it well. LOL.

‘enry Cooper was a national hero when I was a kid over there 😎

An athlete and a gentleman, believe I recall seeing him out running once when I was young and he was in our town. So long ago could be a false memory tho.

Few know it, but they actually had a rematch in secret some years later.

Weird. All images of them pretending to fight again as older men appear to have been made impossible to link to. Oh well. I tried.

"had Cooper not suffered the bad cut over his eye...”

oh, how’d he get cut?

he got hit

oh, who hit him?

Ali hit him

oh, so if Ali had not him he could have won the fight?

right

What's your problem?

Ali was a good fighter.He was also a jerk who would not serve his country.I have never had any use for him.

There is that, but far more important and very clearly and easily seen is the FACT Angelo Dundee used smelling salts to wake Clay up and tore his glove in an attempt to stall the fight. The stall did not work but the ammonia did. My father was a gas-passer and I remember him being pissed about it.

Cassius Clay was a good athlete, good balance and could take a fairly good punch - but he was somewhat over rated. Muhammad Ali was very much over rated.

He stood toe to toe with Ernie Shavers and took it, and gave it back. My favorite Ali fight.

I go back a long time and Joe Lewis, and for that matter the Rock, could have beat him in there day.

The stall did work. As stated at the close of the video, the in between break in rounds lasted over 60 seconds instead of 15 seconds.

Now that's a fight I'd like to see.

Joe Louis was a very hard puncher and fairly quick for a heavyweight, but often dropped his left and was a sucker for a good straight right - a la Max Schmelling. Marciano took punches well - seemed to shrug most of them off - and a very hard puncher, especially inside. Biggest factor is that he was relentless. In imagination, it would have been a good fight, but I think he would have taken Clay out during a 15 round fight.

Local Hero was Carmen Basillio. He lead with his face. Relentless.
And served his country during his career. Didn’t cater to the mob. Made for a tough career.
And a hell of a nice guy.

Absolutely. After he retired he worked at a local college I attended, More recently my sister met and has become friends with Carmen's granddaughter. He was a hell of a fighter and a very very nice guy. Those who don't know him should search Basillo vs Sugar Ray.

I laugh when folks bring up some of the old boxers and make statements sound like absolute facts about them. Just on size, weight, speed and the ability to take a punch, Ali was the greatest. He, like Ted Williams (the greatest in his field) spent the prime of their careers out of their profession. That said, it is a reasonable theory Cooper could have won that fight had that hook landed a minute or even thirty seconds earlier. Also remember Ali took SOLID punchers from the likes of Frazier and Foreman, without question, the hardest puncher in boxing history.

Agree with all that.

Didn't know about the glove but in the video I immediately saw the salts and knew what they were.

Same here. Obvious.

Love boxing history and always felt for Cooper who came so close. Guessing the Brits have a similar affection for Tyson Fury these days. . Does seem to me that Ali fought and defeated more title worthy opponents than anyone by a wide margin. The what -ifs are natural and it is too bad we can't rearrange time to witness him fight Max Baer (fought Joe Lewis with a broken hand) or Tyson or Marciano.

Certainly no authority but I don't think any of them beat Tyson in his prime.

I certainly agree with the comments about Ted Williams - no question. Not so with Ali - he was extremely talented but had some key weaknesses and even the video with Henry Cooper shows one of Ali's weaknesses. Never "the greatest" - a myth - there have been much greater boxers than Ali and their records prove that when compared to his.

I sure do agree with what has been posted about Carmen Basilio - seem to remember that he was an onion farmer up in central NY state - or from an onion farming area. Skilled and tough fighter and a very nice man.

Name one I will give you he was not a powerful puncher (that's why most of his wins were either TKOs or decisions), but otherwise, nobody came close in boxing ability and when you consider his prime years were robbed, yeah, he's pretty much "the greatest"

Marciano in his prime would have eaten Tyson's lunch.

I appreciate your analysis and take on Ali, and your comments about high boxing skills. But to be a "greatest" heavyweight a guy has to punch hard and deep to deal with the other heavies - and Ali could not do that. If he was 'robbed' of his best years, it was a robbery he made of himself. When first he fought again at age 29 (still prime for a heavyweight in my opinion), he fell to Joe Frazier and that deep left hook - rather like the Cooper hook I'm not partial to Mayweather but he fought all comers and his record says great. There are others as well.

Conversely, Ted Williams heeded the call and went off to fly warplanes at war at least twice - maybe thrice -

I found this on Quora. An analysis (ok- opinoin) of how fights might have gone between Ali and other famous fighters. Fun read and seems fairly well thought out.
Ali vs....most of them
Enjoy

TRH- you got me curious so I did some digging and got to enjoy great clips of Marciano fights.

I read part of an interview with trainer Don Turner who was asked about Ernie Shavers. Shavers was universally considered the hardest puncher of the ...hate to call it 'modern' but lets say last half of the 20th century. Harder puncher than even Foreman by those who fought both. Turner says he felt Dempsey was an even harder puncher than Shavers. What caught my eye watching those Marciano bouts is the absolute daze of his opponents after being floored by him. Hard to determine whether they had lost the ability to rise to their feet or were questioning the wisdom of doing so. Really defines having the fight knocked out of them.