Henry Cooper (boxer)

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Sir Henry Cooper OBE, (born in London on May 3 1934), is a retired English heavyweight boxer.

Contents 1 Career highlights 2 Last fight 3 BBC Sports Personality Of The Year 4 Life after boxing 5 External links

Career highlights

Cooper is often regarded as the most popular of all English boxers and affectionately known in England as "Our 'Enry", a reference to his Cockney origins. He was at one time the British, European and Commonwealth heavyweight champion. Cooper fought Muhammad Ali twice, firstly in a non-title fight in 1963 at Wembley Stadium, when Cooper knocked Ali (then Cassius Clay) down in the fourth round with his trademark left hook, "Enry's 'Ammer". The bell rang before Cooper could try to complete a knockout, and Clay was so dazed that his trainer, Angelo Dundee, cut his glove to try and buy more time. The British boxing newspaper 'Boxing News' conducted an investigation into the 'split glove' incident in 2003. Using the original television and radio broadcasts to determine length of time between rounds 4 and 5 it was discovered that Cassius Clay only gained 5 seconds extra and not the mythical 3-5 minutes. The gloves were never changed. Other sources on the matter confirm this. [1] [2] After this fight a spare pair of gloves was always required ringside. Ali was obviously impressed by the knockdown and on the 40th anniversary telephoned Cooper to reminisce. Ali later said, on British television, that Cooper "had hit [him] so hard that his ancestors in Africa felt it".[3] In 1966 they met a second time to contest the world title. Cooper succumbed again to his weakness, a tendency to cut, and Ali went on to be "The Greatest".

Last fight

The most controversial of his other fights was his 15-round loss to Joe Bugner in the final fight of his career; this result so disappointed British fans that Bugner did not receive substantial support thereafter. Fight referee Harry Gibb awarded the fight to Bugner, prompting widespread disbelief from the audience and from respected commentator Harry Carpenter, who asked how "they can take away the man's titles like this?" For quite some time Cooper refused to speak to Gibb, before eventually agreeing to shake his hand for charity. [4]

Alongside figures such as Frank Bruno, Bob Fitzsimmons, Joe Bugner, Tommy Farr and Lennox Lewis, Cooper is regarded as one of the all-time best British heavyweights.

BBC Sports Personality Of The Year

Cooper was the first to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award twice (in 1967 and 1970) and one of only three two-time winners in the award's history (the others being Nigel Mansell in 1986 and 1992 and Damon Hill in 1994 and 1996).

Cooper was given the award in 1967 for going unbeaten throughout the year. One of the most memorable fights of the year was his defeat of challenger Jack Bodell in June.

His second award came in 1970, when Henry had become the British, Commonwealth and European heavyweight champion, cementing his reputation as one of the greatest post-war British boxers.

Life after boxing

After his boxing career, Cooper famously advertised Brut aftershave and was very active in charity work. In 2000, he was recognised for his contribution to boxing with a knighthood, the first boxer to receive the honour. He lives in Hildenborough, in Kent.

Henry Cooper has an identical twin brother, George who was featured in an hilarious sketch in Spitting Image.

In 1980, Cooper wrote a book called The Great Heavyweights in which he spoke of the men whom he considered the finest of all time. They are Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali. He analyzed each and compared their strengths and weaknesses.

In 1981, his place in British popular culture was again confirmed, as he was one of the famous English people taunted by name in Bjørge Lillelien's legendary commentary immediately after Norway defeated England in a FIFA World Cup qualifier.

More recently Cooper featured in a series of UK public service announcements urging vulnerable groups to go to their doctor for vaccination against influenza. The series was called Get your Jab in First!, a reference to both the colloquial term for an injection and the boxing punch.

Career: 1954-1971, 40 wins (27 knockouts), 14 defeats, 1 draw

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