Muhammad Ali pulled a controversial stunt in between rounds during his fight against Henry Cooper which changed boxing rules forever.
Muhammad Ali is widely regarded as the greatest boxer of all time for obvious reasons, and it became clear from early on in his career that he was going to go on to do incredible things in the sport.
The legendary figure retired from the sport in 1981 after losing a huge fight against Trevor Berbick. Just one fight before that, though, Ali suffered his first and only stoppage loss at the hands of Larry Holmes.
Despite only being finished once in his career, the superstar was knocked down several times throughout his career and the first time he had to overcome adversity in the ring was in his 19th fight against Henry Cooper.
Muhammad Ali pulled a controversial stunt in between rounds
In 1963, Ali met Cooper in the ring for the first time when they clashed at Wembley Stadium in London, marking the first open-air fight in the stadium in 28 years.
Early in the fight, Cooper surprised Ali with his pressing attacks, landing several jabs on the nose of the legend and even bloodying his nose.
In rounds two and three, though, Ali began to showcase his skillset to the British crowd, beginning to land heavily on Cooper.
However, it was at the end of the fourth round when Cooper dropped Ali with a big left hook with the ropes saving him from a heavy fall. Fortunately for Ali, it was at the end of the round which saved him in the fight.
Despite that, in between the rounds, Ali and his corner pulled an extremely controversial stunt to afford Ali some more time to recover as he was still disoriented from the knockdown at the end of the interval.
Angelo Dundee, Ali’s cornerman, waved to the referee and showed the referee Ali’s right glove, which had apparently split down the seam revealing horsehair stuffing.
Officials were requested to obtain a new pair of gloves for Ali, however, at that time it wasn’t a rule to have a spare pair ringside, which resulted in Ali having an extra half a minute to recover.
The legend then went out in round five fully recovered from the knockdown and scored a finish after a barrage of punches.
Ali’s stunt resulted in boxing rule change
Ali’s influence on the sport led to many changes in boxing over the years, and the controversy between the fourth and fifth round of his fight against Cooper led to a rule change in the sport.
The ‘spare boxing glove’ rule requires both fighters to have a spare pair of gloves readily available ringside for each fighter.
The infamous split glove made its way into auction last year and it is unclear whether it was purchased by a boxing super-fan.