Five boxers have won SPOTY since it was first staged in 1954. But none so early in their careers as Joshua. Sir Henry Cooper won in 1967 and 1970, when boxing was humming to the tune of the great generation of American heavyweights. Cooper, of course…
The British Boxing Board of Control denied Henry Cooper the right to box World Boxing Association champion Jimmy Ellis in September 1969 because they were not affiliated to the governing body and refused to recognise them. Cooper gave up the British …