Jean-Pierre Coopman

Jean-Pierre Coopman (Ingelmunster, 11 July 1946) is a retired Belgian boxer who is best known for his title fight against Muhammad Ali in 1976, which he lost.

Youth

Coopman had a rough childhood. His father died when he was little, and so the entire family had to take jobs in factories or on farms just to have any kind of income. Coopman's first fully paid job was as a stone cutter.

Early career

It seemed unthinkable that Coopman would ever fight for the heavyweight title. He was a chain smoker and he didn't have his boxing debut until age 25, and even that was purely coincidental. One of his closest friends was the Belgian amateur champion Gilbert Monteyne and Coopman attended all his fights. One day, Monteyne wanted to fight in a charity event, but his opponent never showed up. So the event wouldn't be ruined, Coopman quickly replaced him. He picked it up easily and after several exhibition matches he stepped up to boxing promoter Karel de Jager and extinguished his cigarette right in front of his face, promising that he'd live healthy if he'd get a boxing permit. His career was an immediately success. Within months he had beaten four highly ranked boxers and reached the 15th place on the ranking. His star was rising, though it was said that his manager deliberately looked for good fighters that were out of shape at the time. Meanwhile, world champion Muhammad Ali had just finished a very difficult fight against Joe Frazier and was looking for an easier opponent. And to his eyes, Coopman was just the guy.

Coopman-Ali

Coopman was under a lot of pressure while training for the match and nobody really believed he could win this fight except for his most rabid fans. A particularly caustic reporter stated that he should have sponsored his soles instead of his shorts, as they'd be on screen longer. Ali liked to refer to him as "the sweet little pussycat", though he was mainly so aggressive towards him because the press, in an attempt to spice up the fight, had falsely accused Coopman of racism. Although this was cleared up by a spontaneous hug and some friendly words, Ali kept attacking him verbally by saying the advertisers shouldn't bother, because the match wouldn't last till the commercials. For the record, it did.

The match took place on the 20th February 1976 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Ali dominated the fight from the start round on and during the second round, Coopman's eye got wounded. He tried to get through Ali's defending for a couple of rounds more, but it was simply no use. He was knocked out in the fifth round. Afterwards Ali called him a gentleman.

After The Fight

After the fight Coopman became European champion after beating the Basque Urtain. He retired in 1980. His last official fight was against Cookie Wallace.

With the money he got from his Ali fight(it has been reported that this is about 100000$), he bought a bar, which went bankrupt after poor managing.

Where Is He Now?

In 1995 he fought another and maybe even more famous Belgian boxing legend, Freddy de Kerpel, this was in the movie Camping Cosmos.

2007: He currently makes oil paintings of famous boxers

Quotes

These quotes are taken from an interview from years after the fight, by journalists of De Gentenaar

"Yeah, I thought I could win. I mean, I was the number 1 in Europe and I had beaten several boxers that were Top-15 of the world. So why wouldn't I have a chance, huh?

"I knew what time it was quickly. It must have taken five seconds. When the bell rung I ran straight towards him, but I just flew by. I barely saw him, let alone that I could hit him. I felt little, really little. The next second I received a bombardment of ten, fifteen hits bashing on my skull. Damn, what is this I thought. I have to get out of here alive. So for the rest of the match, I mostly avoided the fight, until I was hit in the fifth round. Boxing is something you first do with your head, and then with your fists. But against Ali I never got past the stage of thinking what could happen to me"

"Sometimes I still dream about the fight. The funny thing is, I even lose in my dreams"