Cannock boxer Ollie Cooper extends perfect record with comfortable points win
Cannock’s Ollie Cooper warmed up for the first defence of his Midlands super-middleweight title with a comfortable points win over Dylan Courtney.
The 24-year-old is expected to defend the Midlands crown in September and looked in good form against Cornwall journeyman Courtney at Stoke’s Kings Hall last Saturday.
Indeed, an early night looked on the cards when Courtney was sent to the canvas by a right hand in the opening round.
But the visiting fighter was up at eight on the count and able to survive the onslaught which followed.
Cooper threw eye-catching punches to both the head and body as he cruised to victory.
As the bout progressed, Cooper, now unbeaten in 11, appeared to use sessions as an opportunity to try out gym moves, adding sharp left uppercuts to his repertoire.
Trainer Richard Carter later described the performance as a “masterclass”.
Another of Carter’s fighters, Gully Powar, got back to winning ways with a routine points win of his own against Paul Scaife.
The Wolverhampton featherweight was in action for the first time since impressing at the recent WBC Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia, an event where he won many more supporters despite suffering the first professional defeat of his career to tournament favourite Brandon Mosqueda.
Powar is eager to get a shot at the British title after re-signing with Wednesbury’s BCB Promotions for another year and Sheffield’s Scaife, who has now lost all but two of his 58 pro contests, was never going to pose too serious a challenge.
Yet the 22-year-old still looked good in unleashing his complete arsenal, connecting with withering liver shots.
Powar hooked to head and body, appeared to drop down a gear in the third. In the last, he ditched the eye-catching hooks for jabs and straight punches.
Tall southpaw Levi Vaughan went over old ground and again outpointed fellow Birmingham cruiserweight Leon Mitchell over four rounds.
Vaughan, who trains at BCB’s Black Country gym, started very brightly, spearing Mitchell with long leads and landing crunching lefts.
His opponent, as he did in their first encounter last December, kept chugging forward and from the halfway stage Vaughan switched to single shots and uncorked a hefty right to the body in the third.
Mitchell took it and, in the final minutes, found the target with his own hooks to the ribs but it was Vaughan who won the contest 39-37 on the cards.
