BoxRec

Hey blokes,I was watching a Yank television show(ESPN Classic)
and they showed the first fight that Muhammad Ali had with Henry Cooper in Wembley stadium in 1963.
After the showed the fight,the host Brian Kenny claimed that the tremendous left hook that Cooper landed on Ali was over rated and that Muhammad Ali wasnt as hurt as they claimed over the years,and that he only got a few more seconds rest between rounds instead of minutes.
My question is,just how much time really did elaspe between the end of the fourth round and when the fifth round resumed?
The film footage they showed was obviously cut out in between the fourth and fifth rounds(they film stock changes just before the bell rings to start the fifth round.

Brutu wrote:Hey blokes,I was watching a Yank television show(ESPN Classic)
and they showed the first fight that Muhammad Ali had with Henry Cooper in Wembley stadium in 1963.
After the showed the fight,the host Brian Kenny claimed that the tremendous left hook that Cooper landed on Ali was over rated and that Muhammad Ali wasnt as hurt as they claimed over the years,and that he only got a few more seconds rest between rounds instead of minutes.
My question is,just how much time really did elaspe between the end of the fourth round and when the fifth round resumed?
The film footage they showed was obviously cut out in between the fourth and fifth rounds(they film stock changes just before the bell rings to start the fifth round.

I always believed the glove was not changed and the interval was only extended by a few seconds.

There is an article at http://www.eastsideboxing.com/boxing-news/day1411.php which reads in part:

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!

Here's another post about it quoting several sources http://boards.boxinginsider.com/index.p ... ntry386922:

The story that they had to change Ali's glove just isn't true. It's a myth that has grown over time from the incident that happened at the end of the 4th round. They did not wait to retrieve a new glove from the dressing room and put it on Clay. Everybody (including Cooper) agrees that after a quick discussion the officials went to get a new glove, but the fight continued in the meantime with the torn glove. The delay was only caused by the discussion of what to do about the torn glove. How long that discussion lasted is the debate.

I have heard the radio broadcast of the entire fight (you can hear the last 30 seconds of the 4th round on the BBC's website), and it's a delay of seconds, not minutes.

I have a book in which Dundee says the break between rounds lasted a little more than a minute (which he said was enough time because even just a few seconds were enough for Ali to recover), and another book in which Henry Cooper says Dundee told him it was a minute and a half.

I have read one article in which the author said he watched a video replay and timed the break between rounds at 65 seconds ( a delay of 5 seconds), and I have another book in which the author says the interval between rounds was extended by 20 seconds.

In Facing Ali (a good book, by the way), which was published last year, 15 of Ali's opponents tell their side of the story, in their own words, about their fights with Ali. In Henry Cooper's chapter, it says "In the end, the delay was just about a minute and a half." In Muhammad Ali: The Glory Years, the authors say the "Officials were dispatched to locate a new pair [of gloves], and in the confusion the interval between rounds was extended by 20 seconds."

So, if you believe Cooper's recollection, we're talking about 90 seconds between the rounds, and if you believe all of the other accounts, we're talking much less -- anything from 5 to 20 seconds.

Henry Cooper's left hook was P4P one of the heaviest punches in history.

For Kenny to say it was overrated shows he should be commenting on another sport, he should stay out of boxing.

Watch Coopers destruction of Joe Erskine and then get Kenny to comment.

Clay was badly hurt and his corner did INTENTIONALLY get an extension of the rest period.

Put it this way, if Cooper had caught him at the start of the round, I reckon he would have finished Clay.