Hi °C | Lo °C Tributes have flooded in for boxing legend Henry Cooper, a sporting "hero and gentleman", who has died at the age of 76.
Cooper died at his son's house in Surrey yesterday, two days before his 77th birthday.
World heavyweight champion David Haye described him as a "true warrior and great human being".
Retired chat show host Michael Parkinson said he was a "wonderful guy, generous and funny and kind".
And former middleweight champion Chris Eubank said Cooper was a "beacon" for boxers and the public alike.
Cooper was best known for knocking down Muhammad Ali -- then Cassius Clay -- at Wembley Stadium in 1963.
He floored Ali in the fourth round with 'Enery's Ammer' -- his trademark left hook. But Ali was saved by the bell and struggled up off the canvas.
Cooper triumphed as British, Commonwealth and European heavyweight champion but he never won a world title and retired in 1971 after losing to Joe Bugner.
Former world featherweight champion Barry McGuigan, a personal friend of Cooper, said: "It's tragic news for the world of boxing. What a great man he was."
Parkinson said: "He was the best kind of athlete, the best kind of boxer, he wasn't boastful, he was genuinely modest and a gentleman.
"I think of him in the same way as I do Bobby Charlton -- the two of them represent something which I think has gone out of sport rather, that kind of hero."
Former middleweight champion Chris Eubank said: "He was a beacon for the public at large, especially in the 60s and 70s, but for fighters alike.
"For me you look at a man's reputation, and when a man is respected by the public at large, that's always appealing to me."
hnews@herald.ie
