Death Of A British Boxing Legend., Our 'Enry takes the count. Options

[TeeHeeHee]

The man who first put Cassius on the canvas with 'Enry's 'ammer.
Sir Henry Cooper, British boxing legend and known as the gentleman of boxing, dies at 76; two days before his 77th his birthday

Cassius Clay said back then that Henry hit him so hard his ancestors back in Africa felt it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13...es-aged-76.html

[GG]

RIP Henry Cooper, 1934-2011.

GG.

[wellfield]

Loved Henry's fights!!...R.I.P.

[angel]

A few years ago ,I along with my brother had the pleasure of speaking with Henry Cooper while in the Glasgow Airport, he was in glasgow to attend a function or sporting event "I've since forgotten" but I must say that I was so suprised because he was such a gentleman and to give us a few moments of his time was just wonderful. R.I.P.. Henry Cooper.

[penny dainty]

Very sad news he always came across as such a gentleman , RIP .

[tombro]

Vale, Sir Henry Cooper ... a gentleman to the end !

Tombro

[fourbytwo]

I wonder if any of today's Boxing 'FANNIES' will ever be as good as "splash-it-all-over" man, at least when Cooper was a champion, he got there by skill and passion.....
Nowadays, we see big muscle-bound 'POSERS' who would have problems fighting their way out of a paper bag.....and it is the Boxing Authority to blame by NOT getting hungry fighters in their ranks, instead going for 'FANNIES'..........Where are our Dick MacTaggart's......?

[Elma]

My Dad was a big boxing fan so we used to watch the big fights on the television. I remember watching Muhammed Ali (Cassius Clay) walking out of an interview before the fight with Henry Cooper. He didn't like the British interviewer's attitude, said he was biased towards Cooper - DUH!!!

[TeeHeeHee]

'Ali still had that cheek... he said I was getting old'

Brian Viner remembers one of the British public's most loved sportsmen

The Independent: Tuesday, 3 May 2011

Sir Henry Cooper lived for 40 more years after his last fight, the heartbreaker and career-buster against Joe Bugner in the spring of 1971. That his enormous popularity endured for all four of those decades belied the fact that he was, at the highest level, a loser. He fought only once for the world title, against Muhammad Ali at Highbury in 1966, and lost. But he lost graciously, as he did even when Bugner was judged to have outpointed him, in one of boxing's more dubious decisions. Cooper exemplified the plucky Englishman, magnanimous in defeat, and the public's affection for him survived the arrival of a new breed of sporting hero: the Englishman as obsessive winner.

Nevertheless, it always slightly bugged him that he was better remembered for coming second – as he also did in 1963 when Ali was still Cassius Clay and a fight away from claiming Sonny Liston's world title – than for his many victories. After all, he remained the British and Commonwealth champion for the best part of 11 years, overcoming some formidable challengers along the way. But for the iffy calculation in Bugner's favour, he would have retired with his titles intact.

I interviewed him at his home in Kent eight years ago, when, though a little creaky, he still cut an imposing figure. On the wall there was a large print of the late Queen Mother, one of the few people whose popularity with Middle England exceeded "our 'Enry's". He was an unashamed traditionalist, and it was no surprise when he asserted that boxing wasn't what it had been. He loathed the proliferation of weights, and governing bodies. "There are 17 weights now and five governing bodies," he said. "What's five times 17? That's more than 80 world champions. I watch kids fighting for a version of the world title after 10 fights. Christ almighty. When I started it was a trade that had to be learnt. There were eight weights from flyweight to heavyweight and one governing body. At the end of my career there were two, the WBC and WBA, and that was all right. But when you've got bleedin' four or five..." He tailed off, overcome by indignation.

I asked where he placed Lennox Lewis, who was then on the brink of retirement, in the pantheon of heavyweight champs. "Well, he's fought dangerous men and beat them. But there aren't the fighters around that there used to be, so you can't make him one of the greats. Having said that, you can only be top man in your era. You can't do better than that. But I always thought he came in the ring too heavy. At 17st, 17st 2lb, he's the best-moving heavyweight in the world today, but you can't cart 19st around the ring for 12 rounds. They all do it. They all bulk up to absorb punches. But it don't make for good boxing. There's only one way of boxing now, going forward. Counter-punching is a dying art."

Cooper cited Ali, Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano as the three greatest heavyweights in history. "But I don't think Larry Holmes gets the credit he should," he added. "Because he beat the idol, Ali. That was the fight that tipped Ali over the top."

He told me that a few months earlier, on the 40th anniversary of the fight at Wembley in which he famously hit Ali/Clay so hard with his left hook that "it shook my ancestors in Africa", Cooper picked up the phone to hear a familiar soft mumble. "I had to keep saying, 'It's a bad line, Muhammad', because I could hardly hear him. But he's still got that cheeky sense of humour. He asked me how old I was and I said 69. He said, 'Man, you are getting old'."

Cooper was born to box. He told me proudly that his grandfather, George Cooper, had been a bareknuckle fighter. "He worked with horses, and where there were stables in them days, there was always bareknuckle fighting. He used to go 20 rounds. Grandad was sparring partner to the old British middleweight champion Ted Pritchard, who used to say that grandad could be better than him if he took it seriously. But he had other interests. He had a very good singing voice, by all accounts. He died before I was born. In fact, he died at a wedding reception, actually, while he was singing. Burst a blood vessel. The old bride wasn't too happy. Mind you, nor was grandad."

I didn't doubt the story but I knew it had gone the distance in countless after-dinner speeches, Cooper's principal source of income, and a much-needed one, after he had reportedly lost a small fortune as a Lloyd's Name, forcing him to sell his three Lonsdale belts.

He might have regretted those insurance liabilities, but in most other respects he remained the picture of contentment. I heard a few weeks ago that he probably didn't have much longer to live, and I'm assured, too, that Ali could soon be facing the final knockout. Which has made it all the more poignant these last couple of days to see clips of their fights.

"I was never big for a heavyweight," Cooper told me that afternoon in Kent. "If I was fighting now I'd be a cruiserweight. But I used to love fighting big guys because they were slower, with the exception of Ali. He was big but he moved like a middleweight. He and Floyd Patterson and Zora Folley were the best I fought. Floyd had hands just as fast as Ali and could punch harder. Zora Folley could knock you out. Ali couldn't. He relied on fantastic reflexes. And later, when his reflexes slowed down, he was clever. He'd let them punch his stomach, punch themselves out, like [George] Foreman, but if you watch you'll see his left hand around the back of their neck, pulling them forward on the balls of their feet, so they didn't get any leverage. Clever."

But not clever enough to avoid terrible damage. Cooper, on the other hand, retired when he said he would, and stayed retired. That was cleverer.

[wee davy]

Thanks for your posting of the Independent obituary for Henry, THEE.

It was not only accurate, but 'pulled no punches'.

He may have been a loser - in the ring - but he earned the affection of a great swathe of the British Public - and therefore a very definite WINNER in life's great lottery.

RIP 'our 'enery'

wee davy

[TeeHeeHee]

Henry, like his brother, could only be a loser as a result of almost paper-thin skin over the eyes. I watched a lot of their fights and as always dreaded the first sign of a cut above the eye which would herald the end of the fight within a few more rounds.
Otherwise, a perfect boxer with a killer punch.

[Dunvegan]

Still to me world champion, cheated of the title that was stolen from him not by skill but by guile. Be remembered Henry!!!!

[benny]

I wonder if any of today's Boxing 'FANNIES' will ever be as good as "splash-it-all-over" man, at least when Cooper was a champion, he got there by skill and passion.....
Nowadays, we see big muscle-bound 'POSERS' who would have problems fighting their way out of a paper bag.....and it is the Boxing Authority to blame by NOT getting hungry fighters in their ranks, instead going for 'FANNIES'..........Where are our Dick MacTaggart's......?

Iit's nae surprise ye don't get Dick McTaggarts if aw modern boxers are "FANNIES". Ah wid think Dicks who were also "FANNIES" wid need tae be hermaphrodites, an there urnae many o them aboot.

[auldbutcher]

Yep they don't come along like OOr Enery great fighter ,gentleman and loving husband.

Never a loser small for a heavyweight better boxer than some gave him credit fer wan o the best lefthooks in the business winner of three Lonsdale belts ootright if that lefthook that done the business had landed say forty seconds earlier then heavyweight history widda been rewritten ,sure Ali got up but Henry was a finisher he would have stopped him no question.

Henry was British champion fer years also if memory serves he beat Karl Mildenberger fer the European crown,among others he saw off Joe Erskine talented Welshman ,Brian London big bruiser,Dick Richardson another big hard Welshman ,Billy Walker,and many more shame aboot those eyebrows had the same trouble mysel in my Army days .

Some one mentioned Dick Mctaggart great amateur he along wie Terry Spinks won Olympic gold medals,never turned professional some say the reason was a great lightweight called Dave Charnley who was Brit champion ,but Dick like many great amateurs hadnae the style tae have been a success as a pro ,didnae posses a heavy dig ,some might disagree wie that but thats my weighing up on that matter,Charnley twice fought for the World lightweight chamship ,agin a guy Joe Brown nicknamed ''old bones'' beaten the first time but robbed over 15 rounds the second time.

Any wies heres tae Henry true champ ,true fighter, true gent.

P.s he was managed by a guy called Jim Wicks who took good care o him his nickname wis'' the bishop'' when asked if Henry would box Sonny Liston efter his great showing agin Cassius ,wicks replied put'' Henry in the ring wie him i would not let him in the same room as him'' classy auld guy ..

PPS he was robbed agin Joe Bugner when eventually losing his crown.

[Dunvegan]

Yep they don't come along like OOr Enery great fighter ,gentleman and loving husband.

Never a loser small for a heavyweight better boxer than some gave him credit fer wan o the best lefthooks in the business winner of three Lonsdale belts ootright if that lefthook that done the business had landed say forty seconds earlier then heavyweight history widda been rewritten ,sure Ali got up but Henry was a finisher he would have stopped him no question.

Henry was British champion fer years also if memory serves he beat Karl Mildenberger fer the European crown,among others he saw off Joe Erskine talented Welshman ,Brian London big bruiser,Dick Richardson another big hard Welshman ,Billy Walker,and many more shame aboot those eyebrows had the same trouble mysel in my Army days .

Some one mentioned Dick Mctaggart great amateur he along wie Terry Spinks won Olympic gold medals,never turned professional some say the reason was a great lightweight called Dave Charnley who was Brit champion ,but Dick like many great amateurs hadnae the style tae have been a success as a pro ,didnae posses a heavy dig ,some might disagree wie that but thats my weighing up on that matter,Charnley twice fought for the World lightweight chamship ,agin a guy Joe Brown nicknamed ''old bones'' beaten the first time but robbed over 15 rounds the second time.

Any wies heres tae Henry true champ ,true fighter, true gent.

P.s he was managed by a guy called Jim Wicks who took good care o him his nickname wis'' the bishop'' when asked if Henry would box Sonny Liston efter his great showing agin Cassius ,wicks replied put'' Henry in the ring wie him i would not let him in the same room as him'' classy auld guy ..

PPS he was robbed agin Joe Bugner when eventually losing his crown.

Unbelievable as it may seem "Aussie Joe Bugner" as he now calls himself was still talkin up his chances of making some kind of fighting comeback only a year or so ago. I dont think the medical authorities would allow him in any ring and as tent fighting was finally banned this year I reckon he's back to the building trade.