I FEEL I’ve been guilty of underestimating Ollie Cooper after witnessing his three round demolition of Tom Ramsden on Saturday.
Grimsby’s Ramsden has a patchy record – compiled mostly on the road in fights where he was given few favours, but he doesn’t get stopped.
Tall Cooper, fighting in front of his home fans at Chase Leisure Centre, Cannock, separated Ramsden from his senses with a surgeon’s precision. In the first defence of his Midlands super-middleweight title, Ollie ended matters at two minutes 48 seconds of the third.
The 24-year-old southpaw, exceptionally tall for the weight, evidently hits a lot harder than I believed he did.
My judgement had been a little clouded by early Cooper fights where he seemed to box within himself, allow himself to be pressured.
Yet he was all business in taking the title from unbeaten Liam O’Hare last November. He was all business against Ramsden.
Trainer Richard Carter now wants a British title shot for his fighter, unbeaten in 11, ranked in the domestic top 10.
“That was a statement,” Carter told me after the win. “We had a plan, we knew Joe
Ramsden would come up and have a little tickle. I’ve always said when fighters come in and have a go, that’s when you’ll see the best of Ollie.
“We’d like a British title fight as soon as possible, that’s the plan, because Ollie’s hitting so hard now.”
Ramsden certainly came to have a go – this was his world title shot. That, as Carter predicted, was his undoing.
“He bobbed and weaved in an attempt to get inside Cooper’s long arms and work the body. One left hook got through in the first, but by the second Ollie had found the range with solid back-handers which the challenger took well.
Ramsden came apart dramatically in the third, a round which he began by enjoying surprising success with left jabs.
The champ detonated a left hand that dropped Ramsden on his back, as if shot.
Tom clambered up on unsteady legs at seven and was given precious extra second of recovery time as his gumshield, dislodged by that venomous backhand, was rinsed and put in place.
He was still befuddled by the blow when action resumed, however, and Cooper closed the show with a whiplash right hook that took everything from the underdog. Referee Chris Dean stepped in quickly to prevent the follow-up.
Cooper has conquered the Midlands, he’s now got his eyes on Britain. Both boxers scaled 11st 13lbs.
