Ollie Cooper uses hometown advantage to his benefit in Cannock boxing show
Fight fans at Cannock Chase Leisure Centre saw local favourite Ollie Cooper keep his Midlands Area title on a knockout night, writes Matt Bozeat.
Cooper confirmed his reputation as a top-10 talent in the super-middleweight division by taking apart Tom Ramsden in three rounds on the ‘Battle of the Midlands’ show promoted by Murray International Promotions.
Former world champions Richie Woodhall and Ray Mancini were at ringside commentating for Talksport and both were impressed by the 24-year-old southpaw in his first defence of the Midlands super-middleweight belt.
Mancini commented on how hard the 6ft 4in Cooper was to hit and the way he finished Ramsden delighted Woodhall.
In the opening two rounds, Ramsden barely threw a punch as Cooper dominated from the centre of the ring.
The challenger from Grimsby looked to be more positive in the third – and ended up flat on his back.
Cooper saw the opening and placed a precise southpaw left on his chin to drop him for a count of ‘seven'.
Cooper finished the fight with a quality punch. Ramsden blocked a straight left and when he came forward shaping to throw, Cooper shifted his feet back an inch or two and slammed a heavy right hook off his jaw.
Ramsden’s legs stiffened, his hands dropped and the referee waved the fight off.
Scott Murray hopes to feature Cooper again in his home town before the end of the year and Minaaz Gurung also proved popular with the Cannock crowd.
From Nuneaton and representing Nepal, he showed one-punch power in both hands when claiming the vacant Midlands Area super-lightweight championship.
After four rounds, his fight with Joe Underwood-Hughes looked to be in the balance and then Gurung found a left hook to drop his opponent in the fifth.
Underwood-Hughes got up and made it through to the bell, but when he pushed out a slow jab in the sixth, Gurung punished him with a right-hand rocket to the chin that dropped him and it was waved off.
Though Sam Eggington and Craig Parker didn’t box, there were still 10 fights on the show with English super-bantamweight champion Nyall Berry and Hungarian knockout specialist Krisztian Nileborg among the winners.
Talksport reported more than 50,000 views and they also saw a barnstorming women’s eight-rounder between Stevi Levy and Gemma Ruegg.
Levy came through on points and Murray hopes to reschedule her fight with Jess Barry in Cannock later this year once Barry is given the all clear by the doctors.
