LONDON, May 2: Former British and European heavyweight boxing champion Henry Cooper, one of his country’s most popular sportsmen, has died at the age of 76, the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC) said on Sunday.

Cooper had been ill for some time and died at his son’s house in Surrey, southern England two days short of his 77th birthday.

London-born Cooper was at his peak during the 1960s and is best remembered for a defeat by Cassius Clay, later Muhammad Ali, in a non-title fight at Wembley in 1963.

He famously sent Clay to the canvas near the end of the fourth round with his trademark left hook, known as “‘Enry’s ‘Ammer”, only for the American to earn more recovery time when trainer Angelo Dundee said Clay’s glove was split. The incident is still a favourite topic of discussion for boxing fans to this day.

Cooper lost when the referee stopped the fight because of his cuts in the fifth round and he lost to Clay again in a world title fight at Arsenal’s Highbury Stadium in London in 1966, again when cuts forced the referee to step in.

After an amateur career Henry and his twin brother George both turned professional in 1954.

His two fights against Ali raised his profile, along with another defeat by former world champion Floyd Patterson in 1966, but Cooper’s position in the heart of British sports fans was out of all proportion to his success in the ring.

His 55-fight professional career featured 14 defeats, he was never a world champion and retired in 1971 after another defeat, a somewhat controversial points verdict, by fellow Briton Joe Bugner.—Reuters