Henry Cooper v Cassius Clay 1963

Cooper fought Cassius Clay twice, firstly in a non-title fight in 1963 at Wembley Stadium, when Cooper knocked Clay down in the dying seconds of the fourth round with his trademark left hook, "Enry's 'Ammer". The bell rang before Cooper could try to complete a knockout. Clay was literally, "saved by the bell." Prior to the fight Clay's trainer Angelo Dundee had noticed a small tear in one of Clay's gloves but didn't bring it to the referee's attention. With Clay now staggered from the knock down, Dundee opened up the tear with his finger and told the referee that his fighter needed a new pair of gloves, thus delaying the start of the 5th round. Cooper has always insisted that this delay lasted anywhere from 3-5 minutes and denied him the chance to try to knock Clay out while he was still dazed. When the 5th round finally started, Clay ferociously attacked Cooper's cuts, leaving Cooper's face streaming with blood and referee Tommy Little was forced to stop the fight in the American's favour.

The British boxing newspaper Boxing News conducted an investigation into the 'split glove' incident in 2003. Using the original television and radio broadcasts to determine length of time between rounds 4 and 5 it was discovered that Cassius Clay only gained 5 seconds extra and not the mythical 3-5 minutes. The gloves were never changed. Other sources on the matter confirm this. After this fight a spare pair of gloves were always required at ringside. What is certain however, is that Dundee broke a phial containing an unknown substance and held it under Clay's nose in an effort to revive his man, which was illegal. Clay was obviously impressed by the knockdown and on the 40th anniversary telephoned Cooper to reminisce. Clay who had changed his name to Muhammad Ali in 1964, later said, on British television, that Cooper "had hit [him] so hard that his ancestors in Africa felt it". In 1966 they met a second time at Arsenal Stadium in London to contest the world title. Cooper succumbed again to his weakness, a tendency to cut, and Ali went on to be "The Greatest".

Were you at the fight in 1963?