Cooper…faces ex world champ Lewis Crocker. Pic: Manjit Narotra/BCB
OWEN Cooper, the hooking, weaving Worcester warrior, again plunges into the welterweight division’s deep waters, again rolls the dice in an attempt to hit the jackpot.
Saturday, December 19, is the date for another high-stakes gamble. And, domestically, gambles don’t come much bigger than the 10 round clash with Lewis Crocker.
You have to hand it to 26-year-old Cooper: he has an old-school thirst for high-risk missions.
On paper, the odds are decidedly in tall Crocker’s favour. The Irishman is fighting in his home city of Belfast, Queensberry staging the show at the SSE Arena. He is a former IBF world champion. He has lost only one of 23 contest and holds a points victory over formidable Black Country champ Conah Walker, although many felt the Wolverhampton powerhouse had been dealt an injustice.
Cooper was soundly outpointed in February by Constantin Ursu for the British and Commonwealth belts. Before that, in 2024, he was stopped by Ekow Essuman - for the English and European titles - in the dying seconds of a bout Owen was winning.
That’s the form-line bookies will take note of.
But Cooper’s trainer, former fine pro Malcolm Melvin, insisted: “I think Crocker’s a very good fighter, but I think it’s a winnable fight. All the pressure is on Crocker to perform well and if he hasn’t done his due diligence, he loses to Owen Cooper, Owen will jump all over him.”
He told me: “We really, really fancy this.”
Look deeper into the pair’s records and the reasons for Melvin’s optimism is apparent. Cooper, healthy and firing on all cylinders, is a class act, good enough to overwhelm fine men such as Eithan James and Chris Kongo.
To some extent, 29-year-old Crocker has rode his luck in recent fights. The win over Walker, who would go on to much bigger things, was contentious. Regardless of the rights and wrongs, I felt he fought in burst that suggested making welter was no picnic. Against Cooper, if you can’t fight fire with fire you get burned.
Last year in Belfast, Paddy Donovan cut and dropped him before being slung out in the eighth for landing a punch after the bell: in the return, with the IBF crown at stake, Donovan was floored twice on the way to losing a split decision.
Last time out, in June, “The Croc” travelled Down Under to defend his belt against Liam Paro and lost on points. Let’s say it as it is: Crocker fought very well that night, the decision was even questioned by some of the Australian press. In Belfast, he would’ve had his hand raised.
“We want these fights,” Melvin said. “Owen’s very old school, he wants to keep proving himself, he doesn’t want the easy touches. There are a lot of fighters who do.
“Look, it’s a really good fight – how we train for Crocker is a measure of how much we respect him. It’s in Crocker’s hometown and with that comes the pressure on him perform, that’s one added pressure. We’re not stupid, we know it’s going to be tough – to get to the big time you have to fight big time. When you’re in with a class lad you know you’re not going to have things all your own way. There are two very good lads in there and both will have their moments.
“If you are a proper fighter, there are going to be setbacks, but Owen’s desire is bigger than ever, he’s so fired up for this one, he is buzzing. He wants to show people there’s more to Owen Cooper (than the British title fight). For a number of reasons, that wasn’t the real Owen that night. That was a painful lesson, but a lesson and if you learn from losses, in the long-run they’re not losses.”
Melvin believes all the incentives are with Owen: “The rewards that come with winning this are massive, the incentives are unreal. If Crocker wins, he’s won a fight he was expected to win. What does Crocker get from this fight?
“People are expecting him to turn up and blow Owen away. That ain’t going to happen. We respect his power, but Owen’s cleverer than people give him credit for. He’s one hell of a fighter.”
On December 13, he’ll show it, Melvin believes.