About Henry Cooper

Born May 3, 1934 in London, England.
Died May 1, 2011.
Career record: 40 wins (27 KO), 14 defeats (8 KO), 1 draw
"Our 'Enry", "Orizontal 'Enry"

Cooper began his boxing career in 1949 as an amateur with the Eltham Boxing Club and won 73 of 84 match-ups. He served two years in the British Army and represented Great Britain on the 1952 Olympics boxing team where he was outpointed by Russian Anatoli Petrov. Cooper fought Clay twice, once in a non-title 1963 bout and then again in 1966 after Clay officially changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Much controversy surrounds the first fight, which was held up while Clay's trainer retrieved a pair of boxing gloves from the dressing room to replace those that were damaged during the fight. In theory, this additional time (plus the unknown substance that Angelo Dundee held under Clay's nose to revive him), gave Clay the opportunity to recover from "Enry's 'Ammer" in the last few seconds of the fourth round. (After this fight, the rules were changed and a spare pair of gloves are now required at ringside.) In the fifth round, the fight was stopped on cuts, though Cooper was clearly ahead on the scorecards.

The two fought for the second time three years later, and once again Ali won when the fight was stopped on cuts in the sixth round.After Cooper retired from boxing, he became famous for advertising Brut aftershave and for devoting much of his time to charity work. The 1970 British, European and Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion is the only British boxer to win three Lonsdale Belts. He was knighted in 2000, the first boxer to receive the honor.

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