Johnny Cooke

Cooke was born in Bootle. He was runner-up for the 1958 Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE) featherweight title, against Richard McTaggart (Royal Air Force),^[1] boxing out of Maple Leaf ABC.

He represented the England team during the boxing tournament at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games^[2] and won a bronze medal in the -60 Kg division.^[3][4] He only lost 16 of 368 recorded contests as an amateur.^[5]

Cooke made his professional debut on 28 June 1960, aged 25,^[6] against Ken Pugh and fought in ninety-three fights until 1971. As a professional he won the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) Central Area lightweight title, beating his cousin, Dave Coventry,^[7] for the BBBofC Central Area welterweight title, BBBofC British welterweight title, and Commonwealth welterweight title, and was a challenger for the European Boxing Union (EBU) welterweight title against Carmelo Bossi, his professional fighting weight varied from 133+3⁄4 lb (60.7 kg; 9 st 7.8 lb), i.e. light welterweight to 157+1⁄4 lb (71.3 kg; 11 st 3.3 lb), i.e. middleweight.^[8] Cooke was managed by Johnny Campbell (c. 1905 – 2 May 1994), credited as "the man who put Birkenhead on the map".^[9]

Cooke died from pneumonia in Bootle on 29 June 2024, at the age of 89.^[10]