One of the most exciting and dangerous journeymen of the last three decades “Smokin” Bert Cooper passed away on May 10th at age 53 due to pancreatic cancer.
In his career Cooper fought the gauntlet of talent packed top tier Cruiserweights and heavyweights from 1986-2012 , starting in 1984 as a Cruiserweight he would gain the attention of fans with a string of first round highlight reel knockouts. He would suffer his first loss in January of 1986 then comeback to defeated former Olympic God Medalist Henry Tillman later that year.
When Cooper jumped up to the heavyweight division Cooper arrived in sensational fashion stopping Willie De Wit inside of two rounds then lose to contender Carl Williams in his next bout.
As a heavyweight Cooper was not in the upper echelon but a fighter who faced everyone and gave some of the best shaky moments before defeat. In 1991 Cooper earned a shot at the WBA/IBF heavyweight championships held by Evander Holyfield.
He would get off the canvas in round one then send Holyfield to the canvas for the first time in his career in round three, Holyfield would stop Cooper by TKO in round seven to retain his titles.
A year later he would face Michael Moorer for the vacant WBO heavyweight title, both fighters went down in round one. In round three Cooper would score another knockdown before being stopped himself in round five. It would be named KO magazines fight of the year.
In his career Cooper faced Evander Holyfield, George Foreman, Riddick Bowe, Michael Moorer, Chris Byrd, Ray Mercer, and Corrie Sanders. He also had a win over world champion Tyrone Booze.
A fighter who gave it his all win or lose Cooper would finally hang his gloves up for good in 2012.
Listen to More about Bert Cooper and his career on a Talkin Boxing with Billy C TV & radio “Blast from the Past” with Billy C and Alex Pierpaoli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXXwTqd1gD0
