Sir Henry Cooper, who was knighted for services to boxing in the 2000 New Years Honours, was a hugely popular figure inside and outside the boxing ring. He remains the first and, at the time of writing, only boxer to be knighted and was the first person to be voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) twice.
On May 21, 1966, ‘Our Henry’, as Cooper was affectionately nicknamed, famously fought Muhammad Ali for the World Boxing Council (WBC) Heavyweight title at Arsenal Football Stadium in Highbury, London. He lost, officially by technical knockout, in the sixth round after Ali opened a bad cut over his left eye. However, Cooper was unbeaten in three fights in 1967, notably defending his British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC) British Heavyweight and Commonwealth Boxing Heavyweight titles against Jack Bodell at Molineux Grounds, Wolverhampton in June and against Billy Walker at Empire Pool, Wembley, London in November.
Those performances were sufficient, in the opinion of ‘Radio Times’ readers, for him to win the coveted SPOTY Award, ahead of World Cycling Champion Beryl Burton and the individual silver medallist at the European Show Jumping Championships, Harvey Smith.
Fast forward three years to 1970 and Cooper still held his British and Commonwealth titles. In the interim had also won the European Boxing Union (EBU) Heavyweight title following the disqualification of Karl Mildenberger, for illegal use of the head, also at Empire Pool, Wembley in September 1968.
After successful title defences, against Jack Bodell, again, and Jose Manuel Urtain, Cooper was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year for a second time, ahead of golfer Tony Jacklin and footballer Bobby Moore. Accepting the trophy from host Peter Dimmock, he said, “Boxing is as much a team sport as football, cricket or any other, so half of the credit goes to my manager, Jim Wicks, my trainer [Danny Holland], my brother [George, his identical twin], who’s helped me and I would just like to thank you all very much for making this possible.”
Cooper fought just once in 1971, controversially losing all three of his titles to 21-year-old Joe Bugner at Empire Pool by just a quarter of a point. He retired shortly afterwards.