Cooper came out of Philadelphia and was trained in his early years by ex-champ
Joe Frazier, and rose in the rankings with a series of explosive knockouts in the Cruiserweight division. Unable to get a world title shot despite winning the
NABF belt and defeating Olympic gold medallist
Henry Tillman and future world champion
Tyrone Booze, he began boxing in the heavyweight division, knocking out
Willie DeWitt in 2 rounds but being stopped in 8 rounds by No. 1 ranked heavyweight contender
Carl "The Truth" Williams and in 2 rounds by
George Foreman. In 1990, having failed to secure a cruiserweight world title fight, Cooper moved to heavyweight permanently, knocking out top 5-ranked
Orlin Norris and claiming his NABF title. He lost the title in his first defense, outpointed over 12 by undefeated Olympic gold medallist
Ray Mercer in an explosive brawl. Later the same year he was KO'd in 2 rounds by fast-rising
Riddick Bowe and his career looked over. However, Cooper bounced back in 1991, stopping
Joe Hipp in 5 rounds and then being matched on short notice with
Evander Holyfield for the undisputed heavyweight championship after two opponents dropped out. Cooper came off the floor in the first round to stun Holyfield in the 3rd round (scoring the first knockdown of Holyfield in the process), the two exchanging big blows before the referee
Mills Lane stopped the fight in the 7th. The fight made Cooper a big name and he would be matched in many high-profile fights over the years. In June 1992 he boxed undefeated
Michael Moorer for the vacant WBO title, knocking Moorer down twice but also going down twice himself before being stopped in the 5th. Cooper's career went downhill from this point, being outpointed by veteran
Mike Weaver for the obscure
National Boxing Association Heavyweight title in China and then losing to prospects like
Corrie Sanders,
Chris Byrd,
Fres Oquendo, and
Joe Mesi. On June 18, 2010, Cooper, aged 44, made a successful comeback after eight years out of the ring, a sixth-round knockout of Corey Winfield in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. ==Personal==