Cooper hails Ali

As his old friend and former foe Muhammad Ali celebrates his 65th birthday, Henry Cooper insists he feels no bitterness about his controversial defeats by the man known as ‘The Greatest’.

Cooper, Britain’s all-time favourite heavyweight boxer, fought Ali in 1963 and 1966 and ultimately lost on both occasions due to his delicate eyebrows despite having acquitted himself very well.

Twice Cooper tested the great man more than many others ever did.

He floored him at Wembley in 1963 – when Ali was saved by the bell in the fourth round before a ‘mysterious’ hole in his gloves gave him extra recovery time – and forced the American to dig deep and take solid shots in their rematch at Highbury three years later for the world title.

Both fights were lost on cuts as Cooper’s problematic eyebrows gave way to Ali’s precise punch-picking.

But former British and Commonwealth champion Cooper, knighted in 2000, bears no resentment about the encounters and his former opponent, who is 65 today more than 40 years since the pair met in the ring for the second time.

He told PA Sport: “I knew I had the style to upset him.

“I was faster than your usual heavyweight – though not as fast as he was - and I cut his mobility down. I crossed him, trapped him in corners and tried to get him on the ropes, which I did for a certain amount of time.”

In their first meeting his famous left hook – dubbed ‘Henry’s Hammer’ – put the young Cassius Clay down in the last few seconds of the fourth round. The bell prevented Cooper pouncing to finish his opponent off and after getting his man safely to the corner, trainer Angelo Dundee ‘noticed’ a hole in his charge’s glove and bought him some vital recovery time – and the rest is history.

Cooper recalls: “Angelo Dundee was a very clever manager. I always say if the boot had been on the other foot Jim (Wicks, Cooper’s trainer) would have done something like that for me.

“I’ve had dinner with Angelo on a couple of occasions and he brings the subject up every time.

“He says, ‘By the time I got him (Ali) back to the corner there was no way he could recover in time so I had to cause a commotion’.

“He noticed the stitching on the right glove had stretched so he just stuck his thumb in and ripped the glove open. They had to send back to the dressing room (to replace it) which was 150 yards away at Wembley so he had a two-and-a-half-minute interval, which to a fit guy is all you want.

“I’m not bitter about it at all. It’s many years ago now.

“When you’re young you are rivals, and now it’s a shame to see him that way (suffering with Parkinson’s Disease) and whenever we meet he always gives me a big bear hug and we talk, we’re friendly and that’s how it should be.

“We are friends. For my 50th birthday he came over and helped me celebrate and he’s a great character.”

There is a tragic irony in the fact that Ali had to withstand far fewer beatings than many of his peers, yet is suffering more than most of them now.

“It’s just a shame,” said Cooper.

“When you think back to how lively he was, mentally and physically, now he is just a shell of his old self, basically.

“He got hit a lot less than many boxers but when he did get hit he took the punches in the wrong places.

“I was with him on one occasion when he had his doctor with him. He went out of the room to go to the loo and I knew he’d be gone for half an hour so I had a chance to speak to his doctor.

“His doctor told me he hasn’t got Parkinson’s which anyone can get, he’s got Parkinson’s Syndrome which is brought on through boxing.

“When you look at him fighting, he was so unorthodox in the ring. His unorthodox style has left him in the trouble he’s in today because most of us saw punches coming and were taught to side-miss them.

“What he used to do is jerk his head back and when he couldn’t get back any further he turned his head. He turned so many times and got hit on the back of the neck, this is where the doctor said to me the brain cells were killed off on the back of his neck.

“He had two or three fights at the end of his career which he should not have had and the one that always stands out for me is the one with Larry Holmes, who gave him a systematic beating.

“Holmes was saying to the referee to stop the fight and the referee didn’t. That was the fight that tipped him over the top.”

While Ali’s brash personality and pre-fight trash-talking left a bitter taste in the mouth of many opponents, Cooper became firm friends with the Olympic champion.

“He used to say things about me but I was laughing with him, because they were funny.

“And I thought, ‘It’s great, let him keep talking’ because I was on a percentage of the gate as well so he was earning me money so I thought ‘Let him carry on, don’t stop it!”’