Henry Cooper
Sir Henry Cooper was a British professional boxer. He was undefeated in British and Commonwealth heavyweight championship contests for twelve years and held the European heavyweight title for three years. In a 1963 fight against a young Cassius Clay, he knocked Clay down in round 4, before the fight was stopped by the referee, Tommy Little, in round 5 because of a cut to Cooper's left eye caused by Clay.
In 1966 he fought Ali for a second time. Ali was then world heavyweight champion. However, Cooper again lost by technical knockout. Cooper was twice voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year and, after retiring in 1971 following a controversial loss to Joe Bugner, remained a popular public figure. He is the only British boxer to have been awarded a knighthood.
Early life
Cooper was born on Thursday, 3 May 1934 in Lambeth, London to Henry Snr and Lily Cooper. With identical twin brother, George, and elder brother Bern, 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.Life was tough in the latter years of the Second World War, and London life especially brought many dangers during the blackout. Cooper 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. Cooper started his boxing career in 1949, as an amateur with the Bellingham Boxing Club based at Athelney St School in Bellingham, which had been founded and was run by Albert Colley, and won seventy-three of eighty-four contests. At the age of seventeen he won the first of two ABA light-heavyweight titles before National Service in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps as Private Service Number 22486464.
1952 Olympics
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 by decision, 1–2.Professional boxing career
Style
Although Cooper was left-handed, he used the "orthodox" stance, with his strongest hand and foot forward, rather than the reversed "southpaw" stance more usually adopted by a left-handed boxer. Opponents were thus hit hardest with punches which Cooper could throw from his front hand, closest to the opponent. At its most effective, his hook - dubbed "Enry's 'Ammer" - had an upward uppercut-like trajectory. A formidable left jab, from which he could hook quickly, completed his offensive repertoire. While cut-prone and no great defensive technician, Cooper compensated by forcing the action in his bouts. After developing a left shoulder problem in the latter half of his career, he adjusted to put more stress on right-handed punches.Early bouts
Henry and his identical twin brother, George, turned professional together under the management of Jim Wicks. Wicks had a reputation for not overmatching his boxers and looking out for their interests. However the very cut-prone Cooper was slow to fulfil his potential and early title challenges were unsuccessful, with losses to West Indian Joe Bygraves for the Commonwealth belt, Ingemar Johansson for the European belt, and the undersized but highly skilled Joe Erskine for the British and Commonwealth. An impressive points win over top American heavyweight Zora Folley was followed by a second-round KO loss to Folley about 3 years later in their rematch.British and Commonwealth Champion
For Cooper 1959 was a banner year: he took the British and Commonwealth titles from Brian London in 15 rounds and received the last 9-carat gold Lonsdale Belt after successful defences against Dick Richardson, Joe Erskine, and Johnny Prescott. Another points win over London brought an offer to fight Floyd Patterson for his world heavyweight title, but this was turned down by Cooper.Muhammad Ali
In 1963 Muhammad Ali created a great deal of ticket-selling publicity before his London bout with Cooper, who many British fans hoped would be able to humble the brash young American. In the boxing world, however, Ali was considered a future world champion and Cooper the underdog. The contest took place at Wembley Stadium, Wembley Park. According to the official weigh-in, Ali outweighed Cooper by 21 pounds, Cooper said he wore weighted clothing and was near the light heavyweight limit. Cooper had devised his own training regimen and felt that though lighter he was in the best condition of his career.Ali's size, mobility, fast reflexes, and unorthodox defensive tactic of pulling back from punches made him a frustratingly elusive opponent, and Cooper was later accused by Ali's camp of hitting on the break. A stiff connection by Ali split open the face of Cooper in the middle of round three, beginning a gush of blood into his left eye. Ali, sensing the fight would be stopped because of the cut, began abandoning attempts of offense and instead began teasing and taunting Cooper, lowering his guard and leaving his jaw exposed to the Brit. Despite Ali's taunts and his bloody left eye, Cooper connected with a solitary left hook to the body; in the fourth's final seconds, Cooper felled Ali with an upward angled version of his trademark left hook to the jaw, "Enry's 'Ammer". Ali partly landed on the ropes, preventing his head hitting the canvas covered boards, but though up at the count of 3 he seemed hurt.
In the corner Dundee was angry and slapped Ali's legs. Ali misunderstood and tried to get off the stool. It has been claimed that Dundee may have used smelling salts to revive Ali. This has never been confirmed and the film is unclear if this happened. The use of smelling salts was prohibited in British boxing, and their use would have led to Ali losing by disqualification if the offence was proved. Dundee later said that he put his finger in a small tear in one of Ali's gloves to demonstrate to the referee and told the referee that his fighter needed replacements, but none were available. Cooper insisted that resulted in a delay of a minute or more in addition to the regulation time between rounds, and denied him a chance to finish off Ali while he was still dazed. A tape of the fight showed an interval extension of only an extra six seconds.
Cooper was the only person present who recalled a longer delay and because the surviving BBC tape of the bout is only of what was actually broadcast, it has been claimed a longer delay may have been edited out for transmission. Study of the tape shows no break and the commentary is also unbroken so the 6 second interval extension is correct. Ali started the 5th round aggressively, attempting to make good his prediction of a 5th-round knockout and opened a severe cut under Cooper's eye. Ali hit Cooper with a succession of hard rights knocking out his gumshield and Cooper's corner threw in the towel. Referee Tommy Little stopped the fight, and thus Ali defeated Cooper by technical knockout. Subsequently, a spare pair of gloves was always required at ringside. On the 40th anniversary of the fight, Ali telephoned Cooper to reminisce.
In 1966 Cooper fought Ali for the heavyweight championship, for a second time at Arsenal Stadium, Highbury. However, Ali was now alert to the danger posed by Cooper's left and more cautious than he had been in the previous contest; he held Cooper in a vice-like grip during clinches, and when told to break leapt backward several feet. 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.
Later fights
After a fourth-round knockout loss to former world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson in 1966, Cooper went undefeated until the final contest of his career. The successful defences of his British and Commonwealth titles against the likes of uniquely awkward Jack Bodell and media-savvy Billy Walker made Cooper the only man to win three Lonsdale Belts. With a win over Karl Mildenberger in 1968 Cooper added the European crown and made two successful defences. In 1970, Cooper would vacate his British Heavyweight Title after attempting to arrange a fight with World Boxing Association champion, Jimmy Ellis. However, the British Boxing Board of Control refused to sanction the match, citing they would only recognize a match between fellow champion Joe Frazier and a ranked opponent. Cooper and Bodell would rematch that year, with Bodell now defending his British Title after winning the vacated title from Carl Gizzi, and Cooper defending his Commonwealth title. Cooper would win the match over a 15-Round points decision, regaining his British title.In May 1971 a 36-year-old Cooper faced 21-year-old Joe Bugner, one of the biggest heavyweights in the world, for the British, European and Commonwealth belts. Referee Harry Gibbs awarded the fight to Bugner by a quarter of a point score. 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?" Cooper announced his retirement shortly afterwards. Cooper refused to speak to Gibbs for many years but eventually agreed to shake his hand while they were at a charity event.