Henry Cooper by Robert Edwards

Author:Robert Edwards
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781857829723
Publisher: John Blake Publishing
Published: 2012-12-13T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

THAT FIGHT

‘Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.’

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Julius Caesar, (1599).

The embarrassing chaos at the top of the US (and therefore the world) heavyweight division was gradually resolving itself. The remorseless Liston had finally achieved a match with Patterson, held on 25 September 1962. Patterson’s acceptance of the bout had led to an emotional split with the nervous Cus d’Amato but the philosopher/manager was still loyally present in the champion’s corner to witness the total humiliation of his protégé. As is traditional before a fight, champions past and present, as well as current contenders, were introduced to the crowd. All the hopefuls were cheered heartily. All, that is, bar one.

Cassius Marcellus Clay, 20, light heavyweight gold medal winner at the 1960 Rome Olympics, was dutifully booed by the press corps as he climbed through the ropes to take a bow. Many of the hacks were literally on the payroll of Norris’s IBC and Clay’s independence from that organization was awkward, to say the least. He was managed by Angelo Dundee, the brother of Liston’s one-time promoter Chris but, more importantly, he was financially supported by an 11-strong group of local worthies from his birthplace, Louisville, Kentucky, each of whom had lobbed in a tax-deductible $3,000 a year to have a stake in their local boy and keep him from the clutches of the Mob’s regiment of obedient shadow managers. Cassius Clay was guaranteed a living, and a good one, until 1966. Each of the Louisville Sponsoring Group, as they called themselves, was probably as wealthy as Norris, so Clay was in good hands. However, his reputation as a loudmouth sat ill with the world of boxing writers; that, they reasoned collectively, was rightfully their job. White to a man (and some of them more redneck than many) they took the view that if Floyd Patterson represented the ‘good’ (cooperative) Negro then Liston was therefore the ‘bad’ (downright dangerous) Negro. Clay, at that stage in his career, was merely the ‘noisy’ (uppity) Negro, quite outside the script of this cynical morality play and reckoned to be a thoroughgoing nuisance of dubious (professionally, at least) fistic quality.

Famously, Liston demolished Patterson in 2 minutes 6 seconds, and if this spectacle gave Clay pause for thought it didn’t show much. This handsome young man (already known as ‘gaseous Cassius’) was, at the time of Liston’s first destruction of Patterson, the victor of 15 professional fights out of 15. His opponents had not been in perhaps the top ranks (with the possible exception of Alonzo Johnson), which is why he was scheduled to fight Archie Moore in November. This was to be a rite of passage, a normal and even faintly honourable transaction of boxing, that moment when the newcomer beats the established master, to which he looked forward. Moore had also helped to train him before Angelo Dundee had taken over in early 1961 and, despite his persistent disobedience, Moore had a great affection for him.

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