Ollie Cooper is dreaming of titles and burgers ahead of home fight

Cooper will spend his 23rd birthday tomorrow in the gym preparing for the seventh fight of his professional career.

That goes ahead in home-town Cannock on Thursday, September 28.

Scott Murray promotes his latest Excelsior Sporting Club fight night at Bar Sport’s Premier Suite. The towering southpaw hopes victory will lead to a shot at the Midlands Area middleweight title – and says he knows where he is heading straight after the fight!

He said: “I’m going straight to Five Guys for the biggest burger on the menu with a salted caramel milkshake!

“If I’m not in training and I see a Five Guys open, I’m straight in there. I’m hoping that if I can get my name out there and win some titles they will give me a black (loyalty) card. That’s the dream !”

Cooper accepts that with his sweet tooth, it isn’t easy to squeeze his 6ft 5in frame down to 11st 6lb to fight, but he had enough left in the tank to hold off Pavol Garaj in the closing rounds of their scrap in Cannock in June.

That was Cooper’s first fight over six rounds and for the first four, the former Wolverhampton ABC amateur was in control.

He said: “He didn’t do a lot for the first four rounds. He just covered up and then he really turned it on in the fifth and sixth rounds. I wasn’t expecting it.

“He took me into deep waters in the last two rounds. I was tiring and he put the pressure on, but I dealt with it and I take confidence from that.”

Cooper accepts that because of his size, it is inevitable he will outgrow the middleweight division and says he wants to win a belt before he moves on.

“I don’t want to hang around fighting journeymen,” he said. “I want to show people what I can do and get my name out there by winning the Midlands title.

“It will get harder and harder to make the weight as I get older and I want to try to get to British title level at middleweight before I have to move up.”

Cooper says he has the right man in his corner as he plans his boxing career.

He is trained by Richie Carter, who was a super-middleweight contender before hanging up his gloves and taking up training.

Carter was with Cooper for his last seven amateur bouts – six wins after starting with a loss – and has been in his corner from the start of his pro career.

Cooper said: “Richie has done it, he’s been there himself, and it’s good to know that when he tells me something, he’s speaking from experience. He’s learned from experience.”

n Scott Murray has joined forces with the St Andrews Sporting Club to stage an England-Scotland boxing international in Cannock on November 30, St Andrew’s Day. Murray met St Andrew's chief Ian Wilson and they have agreed to work together on a four-fight show that is sure to be fiercely contested.

Wilson will be bringing four fighters down from Scotland to fight the English and Murray said: “They are sure to be competitive fights. Professional boxers don’t usually get the chance to represent their country and this has the makings of a special night.”