FORMER BRITISH and European heavyweight boxing champion Henry Cooper has died at the age of 76, the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC) said last night.
Cooper had been ill for some time and died at his son’s house in Surrey, southern England two days short of his 77th birthday.
London-born Cooper was at his peak during the 1960s and is best remembered for a defeat by Cassius Clay, later Muhammad Ali, in a non-title fight at Wembley in 1963.
He famously sent Clay to the canvas near the end of the fourth round with his trademark left hook, known as “’Enry’s ’Ammer”, only for the American to earn more recovery time when trainer Angelo Dundee said Clay’s glove was split. The incident is still a favourite topic of discussion for boxing fans to this day.
Cooper lost when the referee stopped the fight because of his cuts in the fifth round and he lost to Clay again in a world title fight at Arsenal’s Highbury Stadium in London in 1966, again when cuts forced the referee to step in.
Former world featherweight champion Barry McGuigan, a personal friend of Cooper’s, said last night he never recovered from his wife’s death in 2008. He said the couple were “devoted to each other” and were a great example.
He told the BBC: “It’s tragic news for the world of boxing. The great Henry Cooper, and what a great man he was.” He said Cooper encouraged him when he got into boxing: “All you ever got was ‘Son, you’ve got great potential’. He was full of encouragement, he was a really lovely man.”
Cooper’s two fights against Ali raised his profile, as did a defeat by former world champion Floyd Patterson in 1966, but Cooper’s position in the heart of British sports fans was out of all proportion to his success in the ring in a 55-fight professional career that featured 14 defeats.
His bravery and down-to-earth personality ensured great popularity during his boxing career and then as a TV pundit and commentator, game show panellist and tireless charity fundraiser. He was also one of the faces of Brut after-shave in TV advertisements
Twice voted British sports personality of the year, he was awarded an OBE in 1969 and knighted in 2000. – (Reuters/PA)