BoxRec

isn`t cooper the only person to win the bbc sports personality of the year twice? i`m sure he is.

unfortunately no, step forward Mr Damon Hill !!

Nigel Mansell won it twice as well. What's the big deal with Motorsport?

Phoenix wrote:

isn`t cooper the only person to win the bbc sports personality of the year twice? i`m sure he is.

unfortunately no, step forward Mr Damon Hill !!

ah, forgot about him, even so for a boxer to win that award twice takes some doing, when you think that its voted for by the general public and take into consideration the popularity of footy and the usual athletic flavour of the month like our sal or our whoever in this country then its some achievement by cooper.
i`m a republican but being fair to cooper getting knighted when you come from a working class background without having any connection to manchester `darlings of middle england` united takes some doing as well.
coopers a hard man from a hard background but ultimately a gentleman and you dont often find those three in the same sentence.

states wrote:Nigel Mansell won it twice as well. What's the big deal with Motorsport?

It´s the "sport" with the highest death rate. People like that thrill. Nigel is also one of my favourite drivers. Damon Hill is one of the worst champions of all times, he only got the popularity in England because he had beaten a german (with a car that was twice as good.......)

BubiScholz wrote:

states wrote:Nigel Mansell won it twice as well. What's the big deal with Motorsport?

It´s the "sport" with the highest death rate. People like that thrill. Nigel is also one of my favourite drivers. Damon Hill is one of the worst champions of all times, he only got the popularity in England because he had beaten a german (with a car that was twice as good.......)

i think hill won it the year when schumaker rammed him off the track when hill was on the brink of winning the title, hill showed a lot of dignity and restraint by not blaming schuey when it was obvious what michael had done. i think that impressed the public more than anything else.

Good call on Bugner. A very good fighter who never had the support of the British public after he beat Cooper. Also good call on Minter. Do people remember the under current of racism before he fought Hagler? And the infamous line that he was supposed to have said before the fight?

How about Randolph Turpin? Me personally it is Lennox without a doubt.

How about Johnny Owen?

The quote of '...I never be beaten by a black man'...prior to being totally taken to the cleaners inside 3 rounds certainly must have come back to haunt him

mercman wrote:

Also a good call on Minter. Do people remember the under current of racism before he fought Hagler?

Indeed I do. There was a lot of racial tension around in the early '80s. You could sense trouble brewing in the build up to the fight and I wasn't too surprised when it boiled over. Nasty.

I was a very young boy when Minter was fighting, but I do remember him being very well known , when boxing was splashed all over the pages, being asian myself I also remember some undercurrents of racsisim before his fight against Hagler. However, that was then and this is now, and the more I 've read and seen (the boxing)about Minter, the more one has to admire his boxing talent and desire, I mean he was a undisputed champion in one of the most galmerous and traditionally toughest weight classes.

mercman wrote:

Also a good call on Minter. Do people remember the under current of racism before he fought Hagler?

Indeed I do. There was a lot of racial tension around in the early '80s. You could sense trouble brewing in the build up to the fight and I wasn't too surprised when it boiled over. Nasty.

Late seventies and early eighties , yes I remember some of my white friends changing, its all happy now (still know the same guys who dabbled with BOM and NF), but some ppl say that Minter was silly enough to be caught up in the times, and the brain did not engage the mouth.