WHEN 'ENRY'S 'AMMER FLOORED CLAY

Colin Allan looks back 60 years to the night Henry Cooper took on Cassius Clay

- Colin Allan

Boxing promoter Jack Solomons was a happy man; the pre-fight publicity had worked. Thanks to the brash, loud-mouthed American heavyweight Cassius Clay, a crowd of 35,000 had paid good money to watch a much-anticipated open-air fight at Wembley Stadium on 18 June 1963.

Since arriving in England the previous month, Clay had been talking himself up with his oft-repeated phrase: "I am the prettiest and the greatest."

He loved to use simple doggerel to make fight predictions and claimed that Cooper would "fall in five". It was with good reason that he was known as "the Louisville Lip". Of course, it was all a gimmick but it worked and made the British public eager to see his comeuppance at the gloves of the British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion Henry Cooper.

Cooper himself was not fazed by Clay's antics. He had too much experience as a seasoned professional to bother about such fluff. In fact, he supported Clay's pre-bout behaviour. When asked by a reporter if he was worried by Clay's prediction, Cooper replied: "Let him carry on. I'm on the gate, he's selling tickets and earning me good money." Cooper was getting a share of the television and cinema rights and the more interest in the fight, the bigger his profit would be.

And there was lots to interest the punters as the two fighters could hardly be more different. 

Cassius Clay (he changed his name to Muhammad Ali the next year, following his conversion to Islam) was a 21-year-old black American. He had won gold at the 1960 Rome Olympics in the light-heavyweight division before turning professional. He had then shot up the heavyweight ranking list and by 1963 was second contender for a world-title fight. His quick-witted personality was making him a sports superstar.