Henry Cooper

British boxer (1934–2011)

亨利·库珀 · ヘンリー・クーパー

Born

3 May 1934, London

Died

1 May 2011, Limpsfield

Citizenship

United Kingdom

Sport

boxing

Discipline

heavyweight

Occupation

boxer

Height

188 cm (6 ft 2 in)

Sir Henry Cooper (3 May 1934 – 1 May 2011) was a British professional boxer. He was undefeated in British and Commonwealth heavyweight championship contests for twelve years and held the European heavyweight title for three years. In a 1963 fight against Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali), he famously knocked Clay down in round 4, before the fight was stopped by the referee, Tommy Little, in round 5 because of a cut to Cooper's left eye.

In 1966 he fought Ali for a second time. Ali was now world heavyweight champion. However, Cooper again lost by TKO. Cooper was twice voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year and, after retiring in 1971 following a controversial loss to Joe Bugner, remained a popular public figure. He is the only British boxer to have been awarded a knighthood.

Competitions

Awards and honours

• BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award 1967
• BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award 1970
• Knight Bachelor 2000
• Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great
• Officer of the Order of the British Empire

Films

External links

• Wikipedia
• BoxRec
• IMDb
• Wikidata

Facts from Wikidata Q381694 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.