WBC PRESIDENT SULAIMAN DECLARES DAY OF MOURNING FOR HENRY COOPER
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 03 May 2011
World Boxing Council President Don Jose Sulaiman has expressed the WBC and its board of directors ?deepest sorrow and sympathy for the passing away of the British hero Henry Cooper? and has declared a day of mourning in the world of boxing in the WBC.
Sulaiman requested the British Boxing Board of Control to pass on to Britain as well as Cooper?s relatives the WBC?s condolences.
The statement by the WBC President noted that Henry Cooper ?never won a heavyweight world championship, but he became the most revered boxing personality in the history of the country where contemporary boxing was born ; Cooper surpassed boxing and became one of the most admired gentleman of Great Britain, where he was awarded an OBE, as he had even more non boxing fans who fell in love with his English charm and flair.?
The WBC recalled that Cooper won world fame when he knocked down Muhammad Ali in their first fight in 1963 in the fourth round and that trainer Angelo Dundee tore one of Ali?s gloves with the scissors to give him time to recover.
However, the media reports said there was a tear in the glove and Dundee tore it some more and drew the attention of the referee who called a halt which gave Ali ? then known as Cassius Clay ? time to recover as they sent for another pair of gloves. Ali won by a 6th round TKO after Cooper was badly cut and bleeding. That fight was held at Wembley Stadium.
The WBC records showed that Cooper fought Ali twice, the second time when Ali was champion and was badly cut and bloodied that the fight was stopped in the sixth round. This time the fight took place in Highbury in 1966.
Cooper also fought Floyd Patterson, Zora Folley, Karl Mildenberger, Alex Miteff, Brian London , Jose Manuel Urtain among some other of the best of his times.
Henry Cooper became the leader of the BBBofC, which is affiliated to the WBC, and attended the WBC Convention held in London in 1987,accompanying Sir David Hopkins, the chairman at the time.
Sulaiman concluded ?The World Boxing Council will remember Henry Cooper as one of our heroes and an example of what a boxer should always struggle for after his retirement from our beloved sport.?
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