http://www.bbc.com/sport/boxing/39602619 1. Lewis 70% 2. Joshua 14% 3. Cooper 6% 4. Bruno 4% 5. Fury 4% 6. Fitzsimmons 1% 7. Bugner 1% 8. Haye 1% (LOL) 9. Bellew 1 vote (he wrote himself in) [Rounds up to 101%] So, the hated-and-despised "casuals" have spoken. Taken on the whole, how do you think that the poll results of ESB boxing experts would look?
I think it would be very much alike. Maybe Haye would get a couple more votes, having been the center of haype here for quite some time. Lennox on top is pretty much a given of course. The gap is quite big.
While there's not much point getting worked up about a BBC poll aimed at casual fans, Farr surely has to rank ahead of Cooper on the list of all-time British heavyweights. Cooper's resume is very thin at world class level, and the Clay fight aside he was usually badly exposed. He was knocked out pretty quickly by Patterson, Ingo and the first fight with Folley, as well as losing to the likes of Roger Rischer and Amos Johnson. His dominance over domestic and European opposition, and his cult status shouldn't inflate his overall standing. Farr's victory over Baer is a bigger win than anything on Cooper's record, and he fared far better for the most part against the top heavyweights. It's a shame that he doesn't get a mention and the recognition he deserves on these kind of polls.
On a separate and irrelevant note, I did a gig a number of years ago at a golf dinner in Nottinghamshire. I was sat next to Sir Henry Cooper throughout and had a good chat. I can't articulate enough what a lovely, interesting fella he was. He died not long after that...nowt to do with me like.
The way that the mainstream media are pushing him to the general public, that result will probably double in 6 months. Hell, an American friend wrote me that even all 4 major American networks have already invited Joshua to appear on their morning programs which combined average almost 20M viewers each day. The marketing onslaught of Anthony Joshua is in full swing.
I'm surprised they didn't put Tommy Farr on there too. That's a shame. Lennox is the correct answer though.
There aren't too many that I'm aware of who have much bad to say about him. If the worst criticism that people aim is that you moaned a bit about a controversial decision that went against you, all signs point to you being a great guy. The thing I like about Cooper and his era is that holding the British title and defending it actually meant something, rather than it being just a stepping stone.