Cooper toughs it out to outpoint Zamora
Cooper has his hand raised after a tough eight rounder
OWEN Cooper, a fighter who has, to date, glided through his pro career, encountered the first choppy waters at Telford International Centre last night (Saturday).
The Worcester welter outpointed tough Nicaraguan Robin Zamora beyond doubt – 78-74, but it was an eight round victory that relied more on the 22-year-old’s superior fitness than his sublime skills.
Frankly, he toughed it out. The subtle head movement, so evident in his Midlands title victory over Jamie Stewart, was missing.
He stayed within range and engaged against a fighter buoyed by knockout victory in his previous contest. Rather than doing damage, then moving away, Cooper stayed in the trenches.
And that is where Zamora wanted it. He wanted a tear-up and Owen obliged.
I felt Owen was guilty of loading-up with left hooks. Perhaps mindful of the one round win Sean Noakes had gained against Zamora in May, he was too pre-occupied with producing an equally emphatic performance.
The result was a great fight for the fans. Cooper, however, took stinging shots from the southpaw – particularly in the second and third – with a regularity not evident in his previous eight contests.
Zamora, who ended the bout cut on the corner of his left eye, landed with left uppercuts and straight lefts down the pipe.
Cooper settled in the fourth, pumped out the jab, and, with fatigue setting in, Zamora’s work became increasingly wild and ragged.
There are positives to take from the performance. Owen showed he can bite on his gumshield and has learned a valuable lesson: pro boxing is a tough sport where you have to dig deep.
Cooper prepares for battle
The showing may also tempt those British contenders who have given him a wide berth to now take a risk against Cooper. Next up, I believe, is Eithan James who defends the European title he won last night against Owen.
If James bases his game plan on what Owen produced against Zamora, he’ll make a bad mistake.
And Cooper’s tactics may not have been what his corner wanted, but they provided the best fight of the night.
We must also remember this was only Owen’s ninth bout. Professional boxers are not robots, they have bad days at the office and, on reflection, the prospect may consider this a bad day at the office.
To his credit, trainer Malcolm Melvin did not sugar-coat the performance.
“I think Owen was trying to hard,” he told me in the dressing room, “he was trying far too hard. Owen’s not an easy person to hit, yet I’ve never seen him caught by so many shots.
“The guy was tough, but Owen made it hard for himself. Maybe it got in his head he had to do the same as Sean Noakes and Pierce O’Leary (stopped Zamora in three last year). I don’t think he was really, really switched on the way he should’ve been. When he settled, he did really well.
“But it might be people who didn’t want to fight him fancy it a bit more. It’s also made him realise things are going to get harder. It was great TV and a great learning fight.
“Owen’s been in camp a long, long time and it might have been too much. He’ll have a two week break now.”
Early doors, Zamora (10st 6lbs) landed with enough punches to suggest an upset may be on the cards.
Cooper poses for the cameras following the scrap
In the third, two left uppercuts brought blood from Owen’s nose. He couldn’t sustain the volume, however, and, by the fourth, Cooper (10st 9lbs) was beginning to solve the puzzle before him.
He landed solid punches in the fifth as Zamora swung wildly and connected with a crunching left hook on the bell to end the seventh.
Zamora began the eighth aggressively. It was Cooper who landed the more telling, educated blows down the stretch, however.
For the first time in his short career, Cooper was dragged into something approaching a war. That will stand him in good stead for the battles that await.
We knew he had the skill, last night he showed he had the steel.