Cooper told The Daily Telegraph: "It will be nice to be in his company again. He was a bit special – the fastest fighter in the world and I'm told it will be his last visit to the UK as he won't be well enough to travel soon. It's always good to trade memories."

Cooper fought Ali twice in the Sixties. In their first meeting, at Wembley, when Ali was still Cassius Clay, Cooper caught Clay in the dying seconds of the fourth with his trademark left hook which sent the American to the canvas.

Then came the controversy. Clay's trainer, Angelo Dundee, made worse a small tear in Clay's gloves, and brought it to the referee's attention, thus allowing Clay some extra time to recover. Cooper was stopped on cuts in the next round.

Cooper added: "People always ask me if I'm bitter about that split glove back in '63 but I see it now as just part of the game. I hope my trainer would've done the same for me in similar circumstances."

Warming to the memories, Cooper said: "I've seen Angelo a few times and he always rubs it in about splitting Ali's glove, and he admits it quite openly. It's all water under the bridge now.

"The great shame is that I hit him on the ropes, rather than in the middle of the ring. If he'd gone down with his shoulders on the boards, he probably would have gone. He was let down gently instead, from the top, then the middle, then the bottom rope."

The face-to-face meeting between the two boxing greats will take place on Friday Aug 28 at the Alltech FEI European Jumping and Dressage Championships. Ali is attending to help raise awareness of the Alltech-Muhammad Ali Center Global Education and Charitable Fund.

The two boxing legends will be joined by other British boxing greats at a VIP reception and will then take part in a lap of honour around the arena in an open-top Land Rover.