Henry Cooper vs. Joe Bugner

Henry Cooper 189 lbs lost to Joe Bugner 212 lbs by PTS in round 15 of 15

• Date: 1971-03-16
• Location: Empire Pool, Wembley, London, United Kingdom
• Referee: Harry Gibbs 73.5-73.75

• EBU (European) Heavyweight Title (4th defense of Cooper)
• Commonwealth (British Empire) Heavyweight Title (11th defense of Cooper)
• BBBofC British Heavyweight Title (1st defense of Cooper)
• Scoring: Referee Harry Gibbs (sole arbiter): 73 3/4 - 73 1/2
• Attendance: 11,600

Notes

• "Joe Bugner, just 21 and nearly 16 years Henry Cooper's junior, took the European, British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles from the old man by a tight points decision after 15 bruising rounds at Wembley Tuesday night. The crowd booed the decision. But Cooper went straight to Bugner with congratulations and told newsmen "he's a fine young fighter." He then announced his retirement. Bugner probably got the decision by a furious all-out attack in the last round. He flung himself at Cooper and landed a flurry of lefts to the head. Before that Cooper, despite his age, had had the crowd roaring with a superb two-fisted assault that brought him the 13th and 14th rounds." -Associated Press

Post fight comments

• "I don't want to see Henry knocked about. He is right to retire. But this was a diabolical decision." -Jim Wicks, Cooper's manager
• "I thought I won all right. But Cooper is a great boxer and I learned alot from the fight." -Joe Bugner
• "If I had won I would probably have gone on. But the referee's decision went against me and there is no point in continuing." -Henry Cooper

Preceded by: Cooper vs. Bodell

Commonwealth Heavyweight Title Fight # 54

Succeeded by: Bugner vs. Bodell