Description
Henry Cooper “Our Enry” was born on May 3rd 1934 and died on May 1st 2011.
Henry Cooper was an English heavyweight boxer who held the British, Commonwealth and European Heavyweight Championship many times throughout his career. He’s most famous for his two fights with Muhammad Ali, especially in their first encounter on June 18th 1963, where the winner would face Sonny Liston for the World Heavyweight Championship. Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) predicted a 5th round win but in the final seconds of the 4th round, Cooper knocked Clay down with his trademark left hook, “Enry’s ‘Ammer”. Within seconds, Clay was back on his feet when the bell rang. Clay’s trainer, Angelo Dundee took him back to his corner stool, then called for the referee Tommy Little and told him Clay had a torn right glove. It was reported that five minutes had passed before the glove was replaced and the 5th round could start again but ringside time keeper Stan Courtney said, ‘that is false, the interval between rounds had in fact been 1:40.’
Clay came out for the 5th round and meant business. His punches were fast, furious and deadly accurate. Coopers left eye badly ripped open and poured blood. Although Cooper wasn’t dazed Tommy Little knew he couldn’t allow the fight to continue and had no option but to stop the fight in Clays predicted round.
May 21st 1966, Henry Cooper fought Muhammad Ali for the World Heavyweight Championship. The referee George Smith stopped the fight in the 6th round due to a nasty cut over Cooper’s left eye where he needed sixteen stitches.
After the Ali fight, Cooper got knocked out by Floyd Patterson in the 4th round but came back with seven straight wins against Boston Jacobs, twice with Jack Bodell, Billy Walker, Karl Mildenberger, Piero Tomasoni and Jose Manuel Urtain. On March 16th 1971, Henry Cooper lost a 15-round decision when referee Harry Gibbs awarded the fight to the young Joe Bugner. Shortly after, Henry Cooper announced his retirement.
