Henry Cooper

Lewis, Fitz and Farr clearly the best three british heavyweights ever- in that order. Cooper is in the next clutch, probably on a par with Bruno, I think he edges Frank in certain aspects: movement, more natural fighter, wicked hook, but Frank possesses more pure power, a better jab and was obviously the bigger man. I might put Cooper ahead of Bruno overall, but I think Bruno would stop Cooper if they ever met. Cooper is certainly better than Bugner and of course way above the likes of London, Dunn, etc.

 

As much as I would like to have him, Fitzy was not a Brit; he was American, or else he would never of got the shot against Corbett.

That apart I generally agree with your gist.

 

How do you work out Fitz was American?:huh

 

new zealand?

 

I disagree with your assessment of Bugner. Outside of Lennox Lewis, it is questionable if any British heavyweight could have beaten the Bugner who fought Joe Frazier in 1973. Just check the fight on youtube.com.

For some reason Bugner has gotten a bum rap with fans...I don't think it is reasonable.

As a matter of fact, I believe that Henry Akinwande is vastly underrated, too. I cannot picture Cooper coping with the 6'7" Akinwande, who was a very good boxer with an 86" reach.

Check out of the columns of the excellent boxing scribe Graham Houston at www.fightwriter.com. Houston also views Bugner as being possibly the best British heavy ever outside of Lewis.

Clearly, Lewis is the best British heavyweight of all time by a very wide margin. The next group of British heavies, in my opinion, consists of Bugner, Bruno, and Akinwande. After that comes Farr, and then comes Cooper.

 

Why do you believe that Cooper won the fight? I am interested in your assessment. In my view, it could have gone either way, as Bugner actually landed more punches than Cooper did. Bugner's left jab was the most consistent punch of the fight.

The London Times had Bugner winning by a point, too. I've watched the fight twice, once picking Cooper, and the other time picking Bugner. Very, very close.

 

He gave up all his previous nationalities (British, New Zealander and Aussie) to get his shot at Corbett, who fought because Fitzy became a citizen of the USA.

Although born in Cornwall, I do not think anyone really claimed he was British, until we had gone 40/50 years without winning the World Heavyweight Championship.