Classy Cooper tunes up for big title tests

Owen Cooper fires a left hook at Gratti. Picture: Manjit Narotra/BCB

VITAL rounds were banked as Owen Cooper returned from British title defeat to outpoint well-travelled Moldovian Oktavian Gratii on Saturday night.

On BCB’s Aldersley Stadium, Wolverhampton, show, the Worcester contender built his success on a solid jab, thrown short or long, often doubled, always hurtful enough to blunt his opponent’s ambition.

After six rounds, referee Ryan Churchill scored the contest 60-52, 34-year-old Gratti deducted points in the fourth and sixth for pushing.

For Cooper, outpointed by Constantin Ursu in February for the Lonsdale Belt, it was a contest that came with considerable pressure. I’ve been told by reliable sources a big title fight awaited the 25-year-old. Lose to Gratii, who has faced very good men during a career nudging 120 bouts, and that was out the window.

Losing to Gratii was, frankly, unthinkable.

Cooper responded  by staging a classy display that underlined the fact his boxing ability is sorely underrated. The former WBO European and English champ is considered a swashbuckling left hooker, but can set up opponents with hard, accurate straight punches. His jab is top draw.

The “slugger” reputation is partly his doing: there have been high profile fights where Cooper could’ve used more science but the love for a scrap took over.

Against Gratii, Owen – heavy at 11st 2lbs – showed discipline, keeping the 34-year-old respectful with those hard leads, landing short shots inside and drawing the visitor onto impressive right uppercuts.

Gratii tried, came to win and had his moments, catching Cooper with a couple of cuffing right hands. He wasn’t there to make up the numbers but simply lacked the quality to ruin Owen’s future plans.

“I was very, very happy for a lot of reasons,” Cooper’s trainer Malcolm Melvin said afterwards. “The opponent was rugged and tough. The geezer’s a bit dangerous, he came to have a go and that’s what we wanted.

“He said to us afterwards Owen’s a very good fighter and he wasn’t being patronising. He said he came to have a go. Owen’s been the underdog for his last four fights – this one brought a different pressure because he was expected to win.

“I think Owen oozed class, I think he was a class act. The main thing was to get the win, to get it out of the way. Lose and that’s the end of your career, basically. He was expected to win and ticked all the boxes doing it.”

Cooper, taking part in his 14th contest, dictated behind the left hand, worked well inside in the fifth, took a right hand in the fifth, landed a stinging left hook in the same session.

With the job done and reflexes sharpened following a five month lay-off, he can now look forward to bigger things. Rumours swirl over a major title fight on a televised arena show in September.

If he gets through that, a dream clash against Wolverhampton powerhouse Conah Walker could possibly become more than a talking point on social media.

If it happens that would be some battle. In fact, that would be a war between two ring warriors.