Glenn McCrory says his friend Sir Henry Cooper was a fine role model and figurehead for boxing.
Sir Henry was the face of boxing and a role model to us all, says Glenn
Henry Cooper's heyday came before I was even born, but he played a huge role in my life - as he did with most British boxers.
I was lucky enough to meet him on many occasions and we ended up being friends and he was always a gentleman and a great ambassador for our sport. It is a terrible loss.
My dad and my family were involved in boxing so although it was before my time, his fight with Muhammad Ali was one of the first fights I was shown as a kid who wanted to get into boxing.
At the time, I remember his Brut advert with Kevin Keegan being on all the time and that showed you just what Henry meant to everyone in Britain. He was the face of British boxing even if, like me, you weren't around when he was at the very top of his game.
When I came down to London as a teenager, his cutsman Danny Holland looked after me at the Thomas A Becket on the Old Kent Road and really took me under his wing, so Henry's name and reputation was never far away.
Then, when Ali came over here to honour him, I boxed on the card at the Grosvenor Hotel and was lucky enough to meet both of them. Ali was and still is my absolute hero, but I met Henry back then and I do think he took a shine to me, simply because of my left hook.
In what was my first ever newspaper write-up Colin Hart called me the white Frank Bruno but said I had thrown the sweetest left hook since Henry! There was no greater compliment for a young fighter because that short, sharp little punch was the perfect hook to copy; it really was textbook.
From then on we used to talk a bit on the phone. I would just ring for a chat to see how he was and he would always take an interest.
Remembered
We spoke less and less in later years, but whatever was going on his life - and he did have his ups and downs out of the ring - Henry always tackled everything with dignity and was the perfect gentleman.
He was so clean-cut, always did things properly and although I didn't exactly follow his lead, you were always aware that this was someone to look up to.
In the ring what I admired most about him was not necessarily that Ali fight that he will always be remembered for, but the way he battled back from adversity on more than one occasion.
He was the British heavyweight champion and won the Lonsdale belt three times, he was the Commonwealth champion and the European champion, which speaks for itself.
But he lost his first crack at all three of those titles - in the space of three fights in 1957. Joe Bygraves beat him for the Commonwealth, Ingemar Johansson for the European and Joe Erskine for the British and Commonwealth again.
Regarded
Henry went through a little bit of a bad run, but by 1959 was back and ended up winning all three titles, which shows you what a great competitor he was.
In his prime he took on the best, like Ali, like Floyd Paterson, like Zora Folley and you have to say, it was only the very best that beat him.
You would always see Henry and dinners and do's and although I saw less and less of him, he would always greet you as a friend. I think we were all delighted when he got his OBE and the fact that he went onto receive a knighthood shows you how highly he was regarded.
The death of his wife Albina hit him and hard a few years ago and I think he struggled to come to terms with that, as well as the loss of his brother George.
But throughout all that adversity, he was always an absolute gentleman, a great role model and a wonderful figurehead for our sport.
I was lucky to consider him a friend but I know most of boxing will say the same, because he was that kind of guy.
He will be sadly missed by us all.
