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London - Former heavyweight champion Sir Henry Cooper was a "true English gent" who inspired a generation, British newspapers said Monday, paying tribute to his legendary modesty and heroics in the ring.
Cooper once floored Muhammad Ali -- then Cassius Clay -- with a trademark left hook known as 'Enry's hammer' during a 1963 bout that Ali went on to win.
He represented an age when chivalrous defeat meant as much to the nation as victory, newspapers said.
"King of the Ring", said The Sun in its editorial headline.
"He was England's most popular boxer, but Our 'Enry's death at 76 is more than just a loss to the sport," it continued. "We've lost a true English gent. It is a blow we will all feel."
Fellow tabloid The Mirror said Cooper, who was knighted in 2000, was a "gent who inspired a generation".
Cooper had won the British, European and Commonwealth titles but never became a world champion.
He was the first sportsman to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award twice (in 1967 and 1970) and retired from the ring in 1971 after a defeat to Joe Bugner.
"In losing but doing his damnedest, Cooper was never one of the gods of sport. He was more like one of us," The Times' Simon Barnes wrote.
"Cooper always so modest, so charming...came from an age when Britain loved a nearly-man and often valued the gallant trier far above the cocksure winner," he added.
The Telegraph broadsheet ran with the headline: "Farewell to a true Brit working-class hero".
"Those of a younger generation will wonder why there should be such a fuss about the death of a man who never won the world heavyweight title, who was portrayed in many ways as the archetypal great British sporting loser," it continued.
"It should be pointed out that Cooper stood for all the things that we love in our sporting heroes."
Cooper passed away at his son's house in Surrey, southern England, on Sunday, just two days short of his 77th birthday.
