Ali 'still cheeky' when he calls up Sir 'Enery

And the Echo was lucky enough to be granted an audience with Sir Henry Cooper before his appearance at a Westbourne Rotary Club fund-raising dinner in the Wessex Hotel, Bournemouth.

Despite turning 70, Sir Henry still cuts an imposing figure as he leans on the bar sipping a drink.

He is best remembered for his encounters with Mohammad Ali who, he tells me, phoned him up fairly recently for a chat.

Sir Henry, once British, European and Common-wealth heavyweight champion, fought Ali twice, becoming the first boxer ever to knock him down.

The bell rang before Our 'Enery could complete the knockout and his opponent's trainer cut Ali's boxing gloves, requiring another pair to be brought and giving Ali crucial time to recover.

The second time they met in 1966 was a world title fight when Sir Henry succumbed to his problem of "weak skin around the eyes", losing out to Ali.

Sir Henry has a strong connection with Bournemouth, having treated his parents to holidays here several times during his boxing career.

He said: "They always spent their summer holidays here. They loved Bournemouth.

"We didn't come here when I was a kid because we were too poor."

Sir Henry comes from a boxing family.

He says: "My father was a boxer and my grand-dad was a bare knuckle fighter. We just heard the stories about him but I never knew him because he died before we were born.

"He was a character and he inspired me to get into boxing."

Sir Henry has an identical twin, George, who was also a successful boxer and went by the name of Jim in the boxing world.

Boxing has taken some knocks in recent years with claims that it is bad for the health and "barbaric". Not surprisingly, Sir Henry disagrees.

"I would encourage young lads to go into boxing. Unfortunately the do-gooders say we mustn't do it and we can't do this and can't do that.

"They don't even have boxing in school any more. That's why we get all this trouble with kids on the street.

"They get into trouble because they are not burning it off. When you go into a club and train you don't want to come out and break up the place.

"You've already burnt up all your energy," he adds.

Referring to his famous fights with Mohammad Ali he says: "I boxed him when he was Cassius Clay and again when he was Mohammad Ali.

"He is a great character. He beat me on cut eyes but I was the first one to have him on the floor.

"Last June it was 40 years since we fought and the phone rang. I picked it up and who should be on the other end but Mohammad Ali.

"We had a chat for about five to 10 minutes. He's slowed right up obviously as he is suffering a lot from Parkinson's and speaks quite slowly.

"We talked about a lot of things. I just said to him: 'What age are you now' and he said '65' and I said: 'Well, I'm a bit older'. He said: 'You're getting old'.

"He is still cheeky."

Sir Henry says he and Ali are the "best of friends" and any rivalry only ever existed between them in the boxing ring.

He has two sons and two grandchildren and says that his children preferred cars to boxing because of his love of buying fast cars in his heyday.

"I had Ferraris and Bentleys so the kids were all more interested in motors."

When asked about his views on women boxers Sir Henry says: "I wouldn't watch it if they paid me. I don't think women should be into boxing.

"Women are for loving, not fighting. I don't want to see them with flat noses and there are so few women boxers in this country that the standard of female boxing is very poor."

Sir Henry still keeps up to date with the boxing world and waxes enthusiastically about the performance of 17-year-old Bolton boxer Amir Khan, who achieved silver for England in the Olympics.

He says: "He is a great little boxer and has done very well to get a silver. I hope he stays amateur so he can get more experience.

"He has got a brother who is nearly as good and is only 14. People say to me: 'What's the most important muscle on a boxer?' And I say: 'The one between his ears'.

"All good fighters have got a brain."