Sir Henry Cooper OBE KSG (3 May 1934 – 1 May 2011)[1] was a British heavyweight boxer. Cooper held the British, Commonwealth, and European heavyweight titles several times throughout his career, and unsuccessfully challenged Muhammad Ali for the world heavyweight championship in 1966. Following his retirement from the sport, Cooper continued his career as a television and radio personality; he was the first (and is today one of four people) to twice win the public vote for BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award and is one of the boxers to be awarded a knighthood including Frank Bruno MBE one of the Orders of the British Empire. Contents 1Biography 2Boxing career o 2.1Style o 2.2Early bouts o 2.31952 Olympic results o 2.4Muhammad Ali o 2.5Last fights o 2.6Opinion on modern boxers 3Life outside boxing 4Awards and honours 5Professional boxing record 6References 7External links Biography[edit] Plaque showing former home of heavyweight boxing champion Henry Cooper at 120 Farmstead Road, Bellingham, London Borough of Lewisham Cooper was born on 3 May 1934 in Lambeth, London[2][3] to Henry and Lily Cooper. With identical twin brother, George (1934–2010),[2] and elder brother Bern,[3] he grew up in a council house on Farmstead Road on the Bellingham Estate in South East London. During the Second World War they were evacuated to Lancing on the Sussex coast.[3] Life was tough in the latter years of the Second World War, and London life especially brought many dangers during the blackout. Henry took up many jobs, including a paper round before school and made money out of recycling golf balls to the clubhouse on the Beckenham course. All three of the Cooper brothers excelled in sport, with George and Henry exercising talents particularly in football and also cricket.[4] George Cooper, Henry's twin, who boxed as Jim Cooper, died on 11 April 2010 at the age of 75.[2] Henry Cooper served his National Service in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps as Private #22486464,[5] where he was recruited for his boxing ability.[6] Cooper died on 1 May 2011 at his son's house near the border of Limpsfield and Oxted, Surrey, after a long illness, 2 days before his 77th birthday.[1][3] Boxing career[edit] Style[edit] Although Cooper was left-handed, he used the "orthodox" stance, with his left hand and foot forward, rather than the reversed "southpaw" stance more usually adopted by a left-handed boxer. Opponents were thus hit with punches from Cooper's strongest hand, closest to the opponent. At its most effective, Cooper's left hook had an upward trajectory. A formidable left jab and left hooks off the jab comprised the entirety of his attacking repertoire in his prime.[3][7] He generally tried to force the action in his bouts. After developing a left shoulder problem in the latter half of his career, Cooper adjusted to put more stress on right-handed punches which he had hitherto neglected.[7] Early bouts[edit] Cooper was affectionately known in the UK as "Our 'Enery". He started his boxing career in 1949, as an amateur with the Eltham Amateur Boxing Club, and won seventy-three of eighty-four contests. At the age of seventeen, he won the first of two ABA light-heavyweight titles and, before serving in the Army for his two years' National Service, represented Britain in the 1952 Olympics (outpointed in the second stage by Russian Anatoli Petrov). Henry and his twin brother, George (boxing under the name Jim Cooper) turned professional together under the management of Jim Wicks. Wicks never allowed his boxer to be the victim of a mis-match. When promoters were trying to match Cooper with Sonny Liston, Wicks said: "I would not allow 'Enery into the same room as him, let alone the same ring."[citation needed] 1952 Olympic results[edit] Henry Cooper represented Great Britain as a light heavyweight boxer at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. His results were: Round of 32-bye, Round of 16-lost to Anatoly Perov (Soviet Union) by decision, 1-2. Henry was at one time the British, European and Commonwealth heavyweight champion. His early title challenges were unsuccessful, losing to Joe Bygraves for the Commonwealth belt (KO 9), Ingemar Johansson for the European belt (KO 5), and Joe Erskine (PTS 15) for the British and Commonwealth. He then won on points over contender Zora Folley, and took the British and Commonwealth belts from new champion Brian London, in a 15-round decision in January 1959. The winner of the fight was pencilled in to fight for Floyd Patterson's heavyweight title, but Cooper turned down the chance; London fought instead and was knocked out by Patterson in May 1959. Cooper continued to defend his British and Commonwealth belts against all comers, including Dick Richardson (KO 5), Joe Erskine (TKO 5 and TKO 12), Johnny Prescott (TKO 10), and Brian London again (PTS 15), although he lost a rematch with Folley by a second-round KO.[8] Muhammad Ali[edit] Muhammad Ali and Henry Cooper following their fight on 18 June 1963 Cooper twice fought Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay), firstly in a non-title fight in 1963 at Wembley Stadium, Wembley Park. According to the official weigh-in, Ali outweighed Cooper by 21 pounds. Cooper later said he had worn weighted clothing on the scales and estimated he was actually down near the light-heavyweight limit, although he felt it was optimum condition for him.[7] Cooper started well and scored with a sharp jab in the first round, but Ali--who appeared not to be taking the fight very seriously--used his mobility, fast reflexes, and unorthodox defensive tactic of leaning away to frustrate Cooper, whose authorised biography mentioned some dubious work on the break.[7] In the fourth Cooper landed a body punch, and the final seconds felled Ali with an upward angled left hook, the so called "Enry's 'Ammer".[7] Ali stood up quickly though apparently dazed, but the round ended. He started towards Angelo Dundee who come out to guide him back into his corner. At first Dundee talked and slapped Ali's legs, but after Ali misunderstood and tried to get off the stool, Dundee used smelling salts.[9] The use of smelling salts was prohibited in British boxing, and would have led to disqualification of Ali if discovered.[10] Dundee later said he had opened a small tear in one of Ali's gloves to delay the start of the 5th round. Although he was not the only one there to maintain a long delay had occurred, Cooper's assertion the ploy gave Ali a great deal of extra time to recover became disputed decades later because an archive tape seemed to disprove it.[7][11] The surviving BBC tape of the bout is only of what was actually broadcast, and though extra six seconds total delay appears, a longer period may have been edited out for transmission.[7] Cooper began the 5th round aggressively, attempting to make good on his advantage, but a recovered Ali effectively countered and Cooper was hit high on the face with a hard right which opened a severe cut under his eye. Referee Tommy Little was forced to stop the fight, and thus Ali defeated Cooper by technical knockout.[12] After this fight, a spare pair of gloves was always required to be kept at ringside.[13] On the 40th anniversary of the fight, Ali telephoned Cooper to reminisce. In 1966 Cooper fought Ali, now world heavyweight champion, for a second time at Arsenal Stadium, Highbury.[14] However, Ali was now alert to the danger posed by Cooper's left; he held Cooper in a vice-like grip during clinches, and when told to break leapt backward several feet.[7] Accumulated scar tissue around Cooper's eyes made him more vulnerable than in the previous meeting and a serious cut was opened by Ali, which led to the fight being stopped, Cooper again losing to Ali via technical knockout when ahead on the scorecards.[7] Last fights[edit] After the loss to Ali, Cooper fought former heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson, but was knocked out in the fourth round. After that, he went undefeated until the final fight of his career, and made more defences of his British and Commonwealth titles against Jack Bodell (TKO 2 and PTS 15) and Billy Walker (TKO 6). In 1968 Cooper added the European crown to his domestic titles with a win over Karl Mildenberger, and later made two successful defences of his title. In his last fight, in May 1971, a 36-year-old Cooper faced 21-year-old Joe Bugner, one of the biggest heavyweights in the world at the time, for the British, European, and Commonwealth belts. Referee Harry Gibbs awarded the fight to Bugner by the now abolished quarter of a point margin. An audience mainly composed of Cooper fans did not appreciate the innately cautious Bugner, and the decision was booed with commentator Harry Carpenter asking, "And how, in the world, can you take away the man's three titles, like that?"[15] Cooper announced his retirement shortly afterwards. Cooper refused to speak to Gibbs for several years, but eventually agreed to shake his hand at a charity function six months before Gibbs died.[16] Opinion on modern boxers[edit] In Cooper's later years, he retired from commentary on the sport as he became "disillusioned with boxing", wanting "straight, hard and fast boxing that he was used to from his times." [17] While acknowledging that he was from a different era and would not be fighting as a heavyweight today, Cooper was nonetheless critical of the trend for heavyweights to bulk up as he thought it made for one-paced and less entertaining contests.[18] In his final year, he said that he did not "think boxing is as good as it was", naming Joe Calzaghe, Ricky Hatton,