Cook leaves fans with a burning feeling
Sky`s Gary Newbon sounded excited. “Well, I`m sure the next fight is going to be very good” he declared as the world title action loomed from Liverpool on Saturday night with WBO champion Ricky Burns defending his strap against Nicky Cook. However little did he know (or did he? more on that later) what lay ahead.
The scene was set and in typical Sky pre-fight mode the cameras panned into Cook`s dressing room as he began pounding the pads helped by his trainer and dad, Paul. Cook looked in fantastic physical and mental condition. His sculpted body was accompanied with a relaxed and seemingly ready countenance. As he made his way onto the platform prepared for Sky's ring walk, a smile beamed forth from his tanned face as the former chart topper ‘I`ve got the Power’ blasted out.
However, less than ten minutes later (and most of that time was spent in ring introductions and champion Ricky Burns' entrance), challenger Nicky Cook wasn`t demonstrating his power; instead, he was grimacing in pain.
Defeated, and the dream of recapturing his WBO crown shattered, medics soon rushed to his aid in a scene all too familiar when a boxer has suffered a heavy knockout. But it wasn`t Cook's chin that proved to be his downfall. It was down to a prolapsed disc, perhaps related to a diagnosed degenerative condition.
On the sound of the opening bell the 31-year old Cook was almost immediately (six seconds) caught on his back which saw him dramatically crumble to the canvas and the contest looked as though it was over much to the dismay of onlookers in Liverpool`s Echo Arena and the hundreds of thousands watching at home. Surely a man who had previously captured British, Commonwealth, European and world belts and whose only reverses came at the hands of two solid world champions Steve Luevano and Roman Martinez wasn`t faking or even more embarrassingly ‘bottling it?’ No, this wasn't the case.
Thankfully though - if painfully - Cook was true to his tough East End nature and despite being in obvious discomfort arose keen to carry on but sadly for him, Burns and the paying public his laboured efforts were in vain. Cook made two more visits to the floor before dad Paul threw in the towel. The fight was over and Nicky would soon be laid out on a stretcher and whisked off to hospital.
There is a distinct possibility this will turn out to be the career curtain closer on the likeable Dagenham man and while one wishes the one time classy operator well for his future what impact does this have on boxing itself?
Several comments during and after the fight were interesting to say the least. Respected long time big fight commentator John Rawling was the first to give his view when Cook touched down for the third time. “He looked cosmetically fit but was he fighting fit?” reflected Rawling before adding, “and the answer I’m afraid to say has to be no.
“Contentiously I’m afraid to say you have to say the way Nicky Cook reacted to the first punch being landed, how should he have been allowed to have fought in a world title fight.”
Co-commentator and former lightweight world champion Jim Watt was also questioned if Cook had any business being in the ring. “It`s a hard old game I feel sorry for Ricky Burns as well, he's been pumped up he spent so long in the gymnasium he would have want to impress tonight put on a show.
“If Nicky Cook has come into the ring here in an unfit condition you have to wonder how did he manage to get through a training camp without his back giving up like that if one little turn as he turned away from a punch in the opening exchange of the fight can knock his back out completely.
“Should he have been here? Signing a contract to challenge for a world title I don`t know.”
The former ITV and BBC Five Live radio man Rawling also made a startling revelation when he admitted Cook had told him on Friday about his condition which incidentally was then reported in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph and added of Cook, “he's not fit to have fought for a world title.”
In today`s fast paced world of roving 24 hour news across various media platforms it doesn`t take more than a couple of clicks for latest reports to be discovered which begs the question who with the power to stop this fight going ahead read it?
Debate continued when Sky`s Head of Boxing Adam Smith suggested to Burns "maybe cosmetically he (Cook) looked good but physically he wasn`t up to it."
As promoter Frank Warren listened in he emphatically disagreed with Smith`s conclusion by saying, “I just want to say you made a comment there Adam you know talking about Nicky Cook saying physically he wasn`t up to it. He was up to it.
“He passed all his medicals, he's been training for the fight he trained for his last fight nothing happened like that.
“It`s a freak thing I`ve never seen anything like it sometimes things happen. No-one wants that to happen he (Burns) certainly didn't, I certainly didn't, I'm sure Nicky Cook didn't.”
On returning to the studio Newborn admitted he was party to the conversation Cook had with Rawling about his back. (On Friday) “My understanding was Nicky had to have medical advice saying it`s not going to get any better and it`s not going to get any worse you're just going to have to live with it.
“It was bizarre wasn`t it?”
Roving reporter Ed Robinson labelled the contest a `farce’ while British Boxing Board of Control General Secretary Robert Smith said the word was a 'bit strong', Cook had been passed medically fit to fight and was aware he had previously suffered with a back injury and said the affair was ‘unfortunate’.
Doctors, promoters and broadcasters alike are all in a challenging position during unsavoury moments like these. A boxer is checked before a contest including areas where there are concerns about his weight and any injuries. If he passes the routine tests little more can be done. Post-fight a doctor will look into their eyes and ask if they feel anything different. The boxer himself is the only one who can truthfully answer that question. He has the choice to say whatever he pleases.
In Cook`s case one could ask how was he in the run up to the bout. Were there any negative signs or symptoms? If so and he didn`t declare them a promoter and broadcaster can either trust his assertions or pull him out if they are not convinced.
One matter that should not be overlooked though is that of the paying public. Their boos after the forgettable bout suggested they felt short changed in this contest.
Despite your pre-fight excitement, Gary, I don't think you or anyone else will be expecting this to be candidate for fight of the year.
You can bet on that!
