Ten-Count for Henry Cooper

The boxing public generally are a blood-thirsty lot. They like to see a good hard fight, and if there’s plenty of blood and gore flying around they love it.” – Henry Cooper

One of England’s most beloved sporting figures, Sir Henry Cooper, passed away Sunday at the age of 76.

The former English, Commonwealth, and European champion retired in 1971 at the age of 36 with a 40-14-1 record. He is best-known for his knockdown of an inexperienced young American heavyweight named Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali in 1963. (On British TV after the fight, Clay/Ali said that Cooper “hit me so hard that my ancestors in Africa felt it.”)

Born in London in 1934, Cooper fought as an 18-year-old in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, and turned pro two years later.

Sir Henry got it on with such notables as Floyd Patterson, Zora Foley, Karl Mildenberger, and Joe Bugner, in addition to twice fighting Ali, and is the only British boxer to have won three Lonsdale belts.

He was knighted in 2000 and is considered, along with Lennox Lewis, Tommy Farr, and Frank Bruno, one of the greatest heavyweights in British boxing history.

WBA heavyweight champion David Haye paid tribute to Cooper by writing, “One of Britain’s greatest sportsmen Sir Henry Cooper passed away today. A true warrior and great human being. Rest in Peace.”

“He was a lovely fella,” former featherweight champion Barry McGuigan told the BBC, “and I was a personal friend of him and his wife. It really is tragic news for the world of boxing. What a great man he was.”

Former middleweight and super-middleweight champion Chris Eubank said, “There are many world champions who did not have the respect which he garnered. A world championship belt is one thing – it’s a symbol. A lot of people mistake having a belt for being a champion, when in fact it is winning the heart of the people.

“Henry Cooper behaved as a champion which is why he was a champion of the people.”

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