Former heavyweight boxer Henry Cooper, one of Britain's most popular sportsmen who was best known for knocking down Muhammad Ali while he was still known as Cassius Clay, died Sunday. He was 76. The first boxer to be knighted and receive the title "Sir" from a British monarch, Cooper died just two days before his 77th birthday, the British Boxing Board of Control said. He died at his son's house in Oxted, Surrey, in southern England, after an extended illness. "I am at a loss for words over the death of my friend, Henry Cooper," Ali said in a statement. Cooper floored Ali, then an up-and-coming contender named Clay, in a 1963 non-title fight at Wembley Stadium. Read more: http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=6462365
