Jean-Pierre Coopman is a retired Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 who is best known for his title fight against Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...

 in 1976, which Ali won by KO in round 5.

Early life

Coopman's first fully paid job was as a stone cutter.

Fighting career

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

In 1995 he fought another boxing legend, Freddy de Kerpel, acting in the film Camping Cosmos

Camping Cosmos

Camping Cosmos is a Belgian 1996 film, sequel to La Vie sexuelle des Belges 1950-1978, directed by Jan Bucquoy. It stars Claude Semal, Lolo Ferrari , Noël Godin , Herman Brusselmans and Arno ....

.

As of 2007 Coopman was painting oil paintings of famous boxers.

He is the subject of "Lion" a tongue-in-cheek tribute by songwriter Freddy Blohm.