John "Johnny" Cooke (17 December 1934 – 29 June 2024) was an English

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

and

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

light welter, welter, light middle and

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

Amateur career

Cooke was born in

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. It is pa ...

. He was runner-up for the 1958 Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE) featherweight title, against Richard McTaggart (

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

), boxing out of Maple Leaf ABC. He represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

in the -60 Kg division at the

1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games (Welsh: ''Gemau Ymerodraeth Prydain a'r Gymanwlad'' 1958) were held in Cardiff, Wales, from 18 to 26 July 1958. It was the sixth edition of what would come to be known as the Commonwealth Games, the ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, Wales. He only lost 16 of 368 recorded contests as an amateur.

Professional career

Cooke made his professional debut on 28 June 1960, aged 25, against Ken Pugh and fought in ninety-three fights until 1971. As a professional he won the

British Boxing Board of Control The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) is the governing body of professional boxing in the United Kingdom. History The British Boxing Board of Control was formed in 1929 from the old National Sporting Club and is headquartered in Cardiff. ...

(BBBofC) Central Area lightweight title, beating his cousin, Dave Coventry, for the BBBofC Central Area welterweight title, BBBofC British welterweight title, and Commonwealth welterweight title, and was a challenger for the

European Boxing Union The European Boxing Union (EBU), formerly known as the International Boxing Union (IBU), is a pan-European governing body that sanctions championship bouts in professional boxing. The EBU governs the EBU European Championship, in addition to their ...

(EBU) welterweight title against Carmelo Bossi, his professional fighting weight varied from , i.e.

light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

to , i.e.

. Cooke was managed by Johnny Campbell (c. 1905 – 2 May 1994), credited as "the man who put Birkenhead on the map".

Death

Cooke died from pneumonia in Bootle on 29 June 2024, at the age of 89.

References

External links

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Image - Johnny Cooke
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Johnny 1934 births 2024 deaths English male boxers Middleweight boxers Lightweight boxers Light-middleweight boxers Light-welterweight boxers Sportspeople from Bootle Boxers from Liverpool Welterweight boxers Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Boxers at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in boxing