Henry Cooper

Sir Henry Cooper OBE KSG KB (3 May 1934–1 May 2011) was an English heavyweight boxer known for the power of his left hook. People called it "Enry's 'Ammer" (Henry's hammer). He knocked down Muhammad Ali early in Ali's career. Cooper held the British, Commonwealth and European heavyweight titles several times. He unsuccessfully challenged Ali for the world heavyweight championship in 1966. 

After he retired from boxing, Cooper was a television and radio personality. He was popular in Britain. He was the first (and is today one of just three people) to twice win the public vote for BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. He is the only boxer to be awarded a knighthood.  He is also named as one of the great Londoners in the "London Song" by Ray Davies on his 1998 album The Storyteller.

Cooper married an Italian Catholic woman and converted to her faith.Telegraph obituary 

References

Other websites
 Remembering Clay v Cooper  East Side Boxing, 14 November 2006

Category:1934 births
Category:2011 deaths
Category:British boxers
Category:English Roman Catholics
Category:Knights Bachelor
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Sportspeople from London
Category:Sportspeople from Surrey
Category:People from Oxted