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Henry Cooper is best remembered for the night when he nearly changed the course of boxing history. On 19th July 1963 he fought the up-and-coming Cassius Clay, later to become Muhammad Ali, and his famous left hook, 'Henry's Hammer', dumped Clay on the canvas, raising 'the biggest cheer in boxing history'.
Henry went on to record many notable victories. Arguably Britain's greatest ever heavyweight fighter, he won 40 of his 55 professional fights, beating most of the true boxing greats. His story also brings in the legendary names of boxing: Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson and, of course, Ali.
Boxing was not the end of Henry's time in the public eye. He was the ideal elder statesman of the sport, and a successful media career followed his retirement in 1971. Disaster hit, however, when his innocent involvement in the scandal of the Lloyds names meant that he lost a quarter of a million pounds, and had to sell off his precious Lonsdale belts to pay his bills.
The biography of a fascinating man, and even more, an insight into an age now lost to us, this is one of the essential sports books of the year.
book reviews
Amazon
Last year's intelligent, entertaining biography of Stirling Moss proved that Edwards is a sparky, opinionated writer who can produce memorably rich, evocative prose blended with slices of wit, pomposity and bombast. This book, while unmistakably an authorised account, crackles with enthusiasm, not least, one suspects, because Edwards turns up new material throughout. Think you know the story of Clay and 'Enery's 'Ammer? Think again.
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