Henry Cooper - Thoughts On the man?

He was a fine boxer and extremely popular with the British public, similar to Frank Bruno later on.However i found him to be very bitter about both his losses to Ali (first fight) and Bugner. He claimed there was a minutes delay after his knock of Ali down which has been shown to be untrue.However his attitude after the Bugner defeat whilst understandable left a lot to be desired.He just would not let it go for years and i believe he never spoke to the referee Harry Gibbs again. It was so bad Gibbs sued him for libel. So overall not quite the gentleman everybody thought he was

 

- competed in the 1952 Olympics
- Held the BBBC title for a fashion
- was ranked in rings top 10 for a combined seven years
- beat a number of notables during his time
- always fought with grit.

I think highly of him

 

Always was in good shape for fights, gave his all in bouts, and seemed to do his fair share of charity/public service work using his fame.

We know he certainly had issue with the Bugner result and expressed this, but to me that did not change my opinion of him.

His opinion of the state boxing at the time of his later years was at times scathing, but hey a guy can have an opinion, and at least it was an informed one having done his time within the squared circle.

Always thought of him as a decent guy, and he certainly was if compared to lot of gobby less than polite fighters of today.

 

A decent and entertaining boxer who lacked size and talent, but worked hard and made the most of his abilities. Would've been much better if he could've fought at cruiserweight, but his tendency to cut would probably still be an issue. He had heart, grit, good power, good fundamentals, and always gave it his all. Never read anything bad about the man in or out the ring. A solid mid B level boxer at his best.

 

Great left hook

 

He was the kind of fighter that commands respect.

Hard as nails, sometimes brutalizing's much bigger men at world level, and a genuinely nice bloke.

Having said that, he probably got as far as his talent could take him.

He fluctuated between world level, and European level.

 

Good fighter and puncher. I liked him although I think his attitude to Harry Gibbs was out of order.

 

A nice guy, good fighter. He was protected though, George Chuvalo wanted desperately to fight him, Chuvalo being Canadian champ and Cooper being British champ wouldn't happen being under British Empire rules. He got flattenned by Floyd Patterson, seemed like a good guy though.

 

No one ever gets as far as their talent can take them.

 

TBH Noel I don't blame Cooper for being bitter about the Bugner fight, it was his last fight and he fought his heart out in the last 5 rounds. And deserved to retire as the British Champion and go out on a win.

For me Cooper was a clear winner in the fight by atleast 2 or 3 rounds.

 

It was a mean and beautiful left hook that he threw with force and bad intent, especially to the body.

 

Even just saying this is quite enough.

Even just saying this is quite enough.

 

He may have been a nice enough fellow but showed a few true colours after the Bugner fight. Never speaking to Harry Gibbs again. What got me is how he said in an interview how he thought he won the fight by a 1/4 of a point. How convenient. That’s how much he lost it by. Was he also writing a scorecard as well as fight the fight. Acting like it was an almighty robbery when in truth it could have gone either way. I know he didn’t owe Bugner sod all but he could have come to his support against the way the press hounded him. And the Ali fight knockdown controversy over the delay. Check the film again and it’s no way as long as people think. Overall I think he was a nice enough guy but could have taken his last fight decision a lot better.