Madam, – Reading the warm tribute to the popular British heavyweight Henry Cooper (Obituaries, May 7th) brought me back to that memorable night in Wembley in 1963. I paid the princely sum of 7/6 for this first open-air fight to be held in Britain since before the second World War. Stewarding was so rudimentary and seats on the pitch proper were so inviting – and vacant – that I walked on until my audacity weakened about a dozen rows from the ringside.
An ermined Muhammad Ali – then known as Cassius Clay – entered to trumpets blowing and wearing a crown in a pastiche nod to England’s royalty and his own pretensions to the world heavyweight crown. He was caught by Cooper’s left primarily because he was fooling around at that point, feigning sparring with the referee and playing to the gallery.
That punch might have been a winner but for the bell. Ali’s response was electric. I counted over 20 blows from Ali while Cooper had hardly time to raise his gloves. Blood splattered across the arena in such an arc as to force ringside celebrities, including the newly linked Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, to flee their seats.
Cooper’s susceptibility to cuts called to mind Achilles; Ali’s athletic genius recalled Apollo.
It was an historic evening graced by two great sportsmen. – Yours, etc,