Henry Cooper vs. Piero Tomasoni
Henry Cooper 188 lbs beat Piero Tomasoni 190 lbs by KO in round 5 of 15
- Date: 1969-03-13
- Location: PalaEur, Roma, Lazio, Italy
- Referee: Ben Bril
"European heavyweight champion Henry Cooper, 189, showed how he towers above his European rivals Thursday night by scoring a 5th round knockout over Italian challenger Piero Tomasoni. It was more of a brawl than a boxing match. Cooper went down twice. Tomasoni, 189 1/2, also went down twice. And both men crashed to the canvas in the 4th round. A crowd of 7,000 jeered, cheered and heaved fruit and bread rolls into the ring in the 4th when the 31 year old Tomasoni was cautioned for hitting low. Referee Ben Brill of the Netherlands was forced to delay action for a few moments to clean up the ring. Cooper, 34, said all three shots that hurt him were low. The blow that ended Tomasoni's third bid for the European title was a short left jab to the jaw. Cooper threw it in the first minute of the 5th round, and Tomasoni went down like a man clubbed. He rolled onto his side as Brill counted him out. At the end, Cooper was ahead slightly on points, but with Tomasoni throwing wild haymakers anything was possible." -United Press International
- Purses: Cooper - $48,000, Tomasoni - $10,000
Post fight comment
- "I want to fight Jimmy Ellis. I would like to meet him in December, and I do not think he is unbeatable." -Henry Cooper, requesting a title fight with WBA heavyweight champ Jimmy Ellis