# Johnny Cooke

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Johnny_Cooke
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Johnny_Cooke.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Cooke
> Source revision: 1323754301
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

**John Cooke** (17 December 1934 – 29 June 2024) was an English [amateur](/source/Amateur) [lightweight](/source/Lightweight) and [professional](/source/Professional) [light welter](/source/Light_welterweight), [welter](/source/Welterweight), [light middle](/source/Light_middleweight) and [middleweight](/source/Middleweight) [boxer](/source/Boxing).

## Amateur career

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

He represented the [England team](/source/England_at_the_1958_British_Empire_and_Commonwealth_Games) during [the boxing tournament](/source/Boxing_at_the_1958_British_Empire_and_Commonwealth_Games) at the [1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games](/source/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]

## Professional career

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](/source/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](/source/List_of_Commonwealth_Boxing_Council_Champions#welterweight), and was a challenger for the [European Boxing Union](/source/European_Boxing_Union) (EBU) welterweight title against [Carmelo Bossi](/source/Carmelo_Bossi), his professional fighting weight varied from 133+3⁄4 lb (60.7 kg; 9 st 8 lb), i.e. [light welterweight](/source/Light_welterweight) to 157+1⁄4 lb (71.3 kg; 11 st 3 lb), i.e. [middleweight](/source/Middleweight).[8] Cooke was managed by Johnny Campbell (c. 1905 – 2 May 1994), credited as "the man who put Birkenhead on the map".[9]

## Death

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

## References

1. ["1958 71st ABAE National Championship"](https://archive.today/20131113111137/http://www.abae.co.uk/aba/index.cfm/boxers/roll-of-honour/elite-abae-championship/1950-1959/1958/). abae.co.uk. 31 December 2012. Archived from [the original](http://www.abae.co.uk/aba/index.cfm/boxers/roll-of-honour/elite-abae-championship/1950-1959/1958/) on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2013.

1. ["Joe Jacobs Boxes For England"](https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000272/19580512/426/0008). *Manchester Evening News*. 12 May 1958. p. 8. Retrieved 28 September 2025. – via British Newspaper Archive.

1. ["Athletes and results"](https://thecgf.com/results/athletes/44047). Commonwealth Games Federation.

1. ["1958 Athletes"](https://teamengland.org/commonwealth-games-history/cardiff-1958/athletes). Team England.

1. ["Johnny Cooke"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160818125420/http://merseyboxers.org.uk/archive.php?showType=boxer&boxer_ID=94). Merseyside Former Boxers Association. Archived from [the original](https://www.merseyboxers.org.uk/archive.php?showType=boxer&boxer_ID=94) on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2019.

1. ["Profile"](https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/22960). BoxRec.

1. [Dave Coventry profile](https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/21266), boxrec.com. Accessed 22 August 2024.

1. ["Statistics at boxrec.com"](https://web.archive.org/web/20141204221202/http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=22960&cat=boxer). boxrec.com. 31 December 2013. Archived from [the original](http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=22960&cat=boxer) on 4 December 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2013.

1. ["Johnny Campbell - The man who put Birkenhead on the map"](https://web.archive.org/web/20131103125358/http://boxingbiographies.com/bio/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=130&Itemid=3). boxingbiographies.com. 31 December 2013. Archived from [the original](http://boxingbiographies.com/bio/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=130&Itemid=3) on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2013.

1. O'Neill, Connor (3 July 2024). ["Merseyside boxing in mourning as legendary fighter Johnny Cooke dies aged 89"](https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/boxing/merseyside-boxing-mourning-legendary-fighter-29462553). Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 13 July 2024.

## External links

- [Image - Johnny Cooke](http://static.boxrec.com/a/a3/JohnnyCooke.jpg) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20150402183106/http://static.boxrec.com/a/a3/JohnnyCooke.jpg) 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Johnny Cooke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Cooke) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Cooke?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.