Word: cassius
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...know," sighed Cassius Marcellus Clay, alias Muhammad Ali, daintily sipping a cuppa in London last week, "you can fool all of the people all of the time. Sonny Listen-he was supposed to be too mean for me. Floyd Patterson was too determined. George Chuvalo, why, Ali won't be able to stand up to his punches, they said. Now, it's Henry Cooper's left hook is gonna make history...
That thoughtful bit of sarcasm was the nastiest Cassius got all week. In fact, he was so much on his good behavior that sportswriters took to calling him "Muhammad the Meek." "I want to thank," he said, "the lords and all the common market people who have treated me so well in England. I want to thank the President of the United States and the Louisville draft board, who let me out of my country." The only man Clay forgot to thank was Henry Cooper, the balding cockney greengrocer whose left hand made it all possible: the most widely watched...
Cooper's left hand bears discussion, if for no other reason than that 1) it is the only hand he has, and 2) it once, three years ago, introduced Clay to canvas. The acquaintanceship lasted only 5 sec., after which Cassius performed a surgical operation on the tissue surrounding Cooper's left eye. Ever since, Henry has been soaking his head in brine to toughen his skin. The success of the treatment was a matter of sufficient debate to lure 46,000 Britons to Arsenal Football Club Stadium last week and to persuade millions of Americans to tune...
...Cassius' biggest pain was in his pocketbook. His share of the purse was only $100,000-the smallest payoff to a defending champion since 1952, when Jersey Joe Walcott got $92,000 for fighting Ezzard Charles for the fourth time...
After taxes, that would hardly cover the upkeep on Muslim Leader Elijah Muhammad's 18-room Chicago mansion. Clay's handlers were looking for still another nobody for Cassius to fight before he reports for the draft, perhaps in June. Henry Cooper seems to fill the bill best: the latest in a long line of swooning British heavyweights, he can be cut by a slice of bread, and he is now 31. Besides, Clay knocked him out three years...