Muhammad Ali vs. Henry Cooper: Blood, Guts & That Left Hook

Muhammad Ali vs. Henry Cooper: Blood, Guts & That Left Hook

It was a rematch three years in the making. The British fans craving their first taste of world heavyweight glory since the heady days of Bob Fitzsimmons travelled to Highbury with at least some semblance of hope, even if the form line and reality said differently. One moment in the first fight convinced many that a certain American heavyweight with a big mouth would very soon get his comeuppance.

If Henry Cooper had landed that famous left hook just a few seconds earlier in their first meeting three earlier, then the British fighter could have been celebrating a famous win over the American loudmouth who fascinated, confused and transfixed the British public in 1963. The New York Times said of Muhammad Ali at the time, ‘He had arrived in England with his trademark braggadocio in full efflorescence.’

But the punch that put Cassius Clay on the canvas at Wembley Stadium landed right at the end of the 4th round. Clay got up and recovered enough in the minute and a few seconds interval to dramatically save his night in the very next round. Forget the other story. It is, in truth, a little bit of a myth. An exaggerated tale added to the narrative that, in reality, made no difference to the outcome of that non-title first meeting.

Clay came out for the 5th round intending to make good on his pre-fight prediction, he very quickly sliced open the features of the game fighter in front of him, and Cooper was saved from his own blood by the referee Tommy Little. Cooper quite rightly dined out on that left hook for the rest of his life, and it earned him folk hero status on a far wider scale than just the inner boxing circle. Cooper had his moments in the fight, even taking away that one very big moment, but Clay seemed intent on taking the fight to his predicted end, and it very nearly cost him.

Clay was only 21, and the Olympic Champion was unbeaten in eighteen fights when he came to London to fight the British heavyweight hopeful who had lost eight times already in his thirty-six fights. It looked a safe enough assignment for the young American who was closing in on a world title fight with the fearsome Sonny Liston. That fight looked like a disaster waiting to happen for a Clay who, despite his impressive use of his vocabulary hadn’t yet convinced the masses of his fighting ability. And despite rallying to defeat Cooper, the signs were ominous for the upcoming fight with Liston. If the unheralded Cooper could put him on the floor, what would Liston do to him?

But Clay made a fool of the so-called experts by stopping Liston to win the heavyweight championship of the world in 1964, and he did so again the following year. Both fights were more than clouded by controversy and mystery, most of it aimed in the direction of the Mob-linked Liston. After the first Liston fight, Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali and defended his title against Floyd Patterson and the tough Canadian brawler Georg Chuvalo before deciding to head back to London for another fight with Cooper, this time at the home of Arsenal Football Club.

Cooper had fought eight times since his defeat to the supposed young pretender, and there were two further defeats added to his resume. He had lost on points to two Americans, Roger Rischer and Amos Johnson, defeats, which did little to convince many in the trade that he could do what he couldn’t do three years earlier.

Ali had proved his doubters wrong by beating Liston. All the conspiracy theories that surround both his fights with Liston shouldn’t diminish what Ali did, especially in that first fight, and worryingly for the British hopeful, Ali had got better since their first meeting.

Over 40,000 fans flocked to Highbury to hopefully witness the crowning of a new world heavyweight champion and roughly the same number attended the numerous theatres across the UK to watch the fight on closed-circuit TV. The BBC aired the fight on a delayed basis, and it drew twenty-one million viewers. It was the first world heavyweight title fight on UK soil in fifty-eight years. But sentiment and hope rarely matter in perhaps the most brutal and unforgiving sport of all. Ali was the 1-8 odds-on favourite for a very good reason.

But Cooper did well for the opening fifteen minutes, but he couldn’t land his patented powerful left hook the way he so magically did in the first meeting between the two fighters who would later become friends. Ali was never likely to make the same mistake again. Cooper always had his big weapon, but he also always carried his biggest weakness. The fragility around his eyes.

“If you gave Henry a rough towel, you needed a basin to catch the blood.” Hugh McIlvanney

With the fight nicely poised after five rounds, it suddenly, but not unexpectedly changed in the 6th round. Ali had been content to circle and dance and avoid the danger punch. He must have known his time would come. The left eye would surely let Cooper down again as it did in the first meeting. Boxing News said of that moment, ‘Henry was suddenly changed from a dangerous challenger to a man fighting for survival.’

Cooper, knowing his time was nearly up, went for broke. The Scottish referee George Smith gave the home favourite a little time to find his great equaliser but eventually, he pulled an extremely disappointed Cooper out of the fight. He would go on to say that those two cuts he suffered at the hands of Ali were the worst of his career.

Ali had learned from the first fight, and Cooper acknowledged this to Boxing News when he said, “By the second time we fought, he’d learned how to defend himself inside. Whenever I got near him, he’d clamp down on me like I was in a vice, hold on until the referee made us break, and step back out of harm’s way.”

Henry Cooper wasn’t the toughest opponent Muhammad Ali ever had, but the two shared eleven memorable rounds and two fights together that are part of British boxing folklore. Two fights that ended with the brave and underrated British heavyweight covered in his own blood, but one almighty left hook very nearly changed the course of boxing history. In many ways, both careers were defined by that one punch.