Clay v Cooper 1963
‘It ain't no jive, Henry Cooper will go in five!’
Cassius Clay predicts the outcome of the fight
WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN JUNE 1963?
• Willie Pastrano beat Harold Johnson for the world light heavyweight title, despite being a 6-1 underdog.
• Australian diver, Max Cramer made history by being the first person to dive to the wreckage of sunken ship, Batavia, 334 years after the Dutch vessel sank in 1629.
• John Profumo, British Secretary of State for War resigned after an extramarital affair with Christine Keeler was revealed. Despite denying the claims, he eventually admitted his relationship with Keeler, which consequently led to the resignation.
• ‘Come On,’ was released in the UK by Decca Records. This was The Rolling Stones first single.
• Despite losing to Luis Manuel Rodriguez in March 1963, Emile Griffith defeated his old foe to regain his world welterweight strap for a third time on June 8.
• Actor, Johnny Depp was born.
• The film, Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton had its global premiere in New York.
• Carrefour opened its first hypermarket in Europe. The 27,000 square feet store was based on the outskirts of Paris. By 2025, Carrefour had 14,000 stores worldwide.
• Actress, Helen Hunt was born.
• The Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen, premiered in Leicester Square, London.
• UFC world heavyweight champion, Randy Couture was born.
• Singer, Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, better known as George Michael, was born.
1963 was time stamped with a medley of history’s most memorable and significant moments. Coca Cola introduced their first ‘diet’ drink by way of TAB, the Christine Keeler perjury scandal was concluded, The Beatles released their first album, ‘Please, Please Me,’ taking on rivals, The Rolling Stones for top spots in the charts and the US president, John F Kennedy was assassinated.
Whilst the ‘Big Freeze’ hit Britain, bringing freezing temperatures to our shores, The Great Train Robbery took place, surfacing names such as Buster Edwards and Ronnie Biggs. However, from a sporting perspective, you would be hard pushed to pick a bigger fistic spectacle on British soil, than Cassius Clay versus Henry Cooper on 18 June 1963 at the Empire Stadium, Wembley (better known as Wembley Stadium at the time of writing).
In his previous two fights, Cooper had successfully defended his British and Commonwealth straps twice against Dick Richardson and Joe Erskine via stoppage. Clay was also on a winning streak, but of a different variety. He started boxing professionally in 1960 at the age of 18, soon after winning gold at the Rome Olympics and had racked up some impressive stoppage victories at this point, including the likes of The Old Mongoose, Archie Moore. The undefeated boxing braggadocio was now 18 fights deep and would not experience defeat until 1971. For now though, it was the best of British, ranked sixth in the world, versus the third best heavyweight in the world.
The Cooper fight was Clay’s first professional outing overseas and he made sure to let the world know he didn’t intend losing in the Englishman’s backyard. In his inimitable, subtle manner, Clay said, ‘Henry Cooper is nothing to me! If this bum goes over five rounds, I won't return to the United States for thirty days, and that's final! I'm not even worried about this big bum. Cooper will only be a warm-up until I get to that big ugly bear, Sonny Liston!’ At the weigh-in, he added, ‘You gotta a Queen, but you need a King. I am King!’
The contest, promoted by Jack Solomons, was to be fought over 10x3 minute rounds and would act as a world heavyweight title eliminator. The 10 scheduled undercard fights included the likes Clay’s sparring partner and future world heavyweight champion, Jimmy Ellis versus Tongan, Johnny Halafihi.
With ticket prices starting from 12 shillings and six pence, to an almighty £6:60 for a ringside view brushing shoulders with the stars, 35,000 fans eagerly watched possibly the biggest heavyweight pugilistic clash on British soil since time.
Clay entered the ring a 4 to 1 favourite to a music fanfare and wearing a cardboard purple and gold crown, which he’d found in the changing room from a previous pantomime show, whilst Cooper’s ring entrance was far more subdued, concentrating on the task in front of him.
First round, Cooper went hell for leather seeking blood from Clay and it didn’t take him long to find his target, as Cassius soon found himself with a bloodied nose. Throwing the left hook at any given moment, followed by barrage of punches and rough house tactics, Clay found himself a little out of sorts. As Cooper clearly won the opener, many started to think, ‘He can do this.’ It’s worth noting, Cooper was 21lbs lighter, an inch and a half shorter, seven years older and had a shorter reach by almost five inches.
Come round two, Clay had found his dancing feet and was operating beautifully behind the jab, landing at will and opening up a small cut under Cooper’s eye. The next round saw Clay at his showboating best, controlling the ring, landing more telling punches and opening a nasty gash on Cooper’s left eyebrow.
Going into round four, Clay was one point up on the scorecards, and it seemed round four was also going to be going his way on paper. That was until Cooper floored Clay in the dying seconds of the fourth round, immortalising his left hook moniker of, ‘Enry’s Hammer.’
The knockdown would have looked far more devastating it had been in the centre of the ring and possibly more concussive a fall, but instead Clay had the benefit of the ropes behind him to slide down. It’s a well-worn phrase, ‘saved by the bell,’ but that chime without a doubt saved the future great from a likely stoppage, as he returned to his corner eyes wide open and totally disorientated.
Claims of Angelo Dundee cutting his charge’s glove and giving smelling salts on Clay’s return to the corner have become the foundation for many folklore tales over the years, but the fact is, Clay did have the luxury of a few seconds grace, which when you are dazed, are incredibly valuable. After the fight, Clay claimed his excuse for being knocked down was because, ‘I was looking at Liz Taylor at ringside.’
Round five was the precited stoppage stanza by Clay. With a clear head and the bounce back in his step, Clay planted his feet for maximum power and tore into Cooper’s face with a barrage of punches, stopping the British icon two minutes and 15 seconds, after suffering a bloodbath of cuts which were severely impairing the Brit’s vision.
Shortly after the fight, Clay graciously said of his foe, ‘Cooper's not a bum anymore. I underestimated him. He's the toughest fighter I ever met and the first to really drop me. He's a real fighter.’ Cooper’s response was equally as courteous, ‘He said he’d stop me in the fifth and he did. I couldn’t see from the eye. Everything was blurred and I have no complaints about it being stopped. But for the damage to my eye, I think I would have won. Clay developed quite a respect for me in those five rounds.’
Clay had said before the fight, ‘I’m the next champion of the world,’ and true to his word, eight months later he stopped the seemingly indestructible Sonny Liston in six rounds, to become the youngest heavyweight champion of the world. After their Wembley clash, Clay also promised Cooper a shot at the title once he’d beaten Liston, which was again, a promise he fulfilled in 1966.
In defeat, Cooper remained a national treasure, whilst Clay, soon to be Muhammad Ali, would embark on creating one of boxing’s most famous legacies.
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