Walsall’s Shaun Cooper took a step up on Saturday taking on Liverpool's Sam Maxwell in a six-round welterweight contest at the Nottingham Arena live on DAZN (18.02.23). Both fighters were coming off defeats with Cooper losing to Rylan Charlton by a third-round stoppage in a Boxxer Tournament and Maxwell lost to Alejandro Meneses in the 9th of a 12-round contest for the IBO world Super lightweight title. Copper weighed in 10 stone 3 and had a record of 13 wins and 4 defeats and Maxwell came in 10 stone 4 and had a record of 16 wins and 1 defeat with Kieran McCann reffing.
Good start in the first by Cooper who stood his ground and exchanged shots with Maxwell but couldn’t split them. Cooper was moving well with some great head movement in the second but Maxwell had found his rhythm and was the busier and got some good shots off to win the round. In the third Maxwell got some good shots off at the start of the round with Cooper getting some nice shots off in the middle of the round. Cooper never took a step back but Maxwell won the round on his work rate.
Cooper started fast at the start of the fourth but Maxwell stuck behind his jab and was putting nice combinations together, Maxwell's gum shield fell out when put back in Cooper continued to press getting a share of the round. Cooper continued to ask questions in the fifth and pressed Maxwell all the way, Maxwell picked his shots well with Cooper taking everything he had. Maxwell started to put it on Cooper in the final round and banged in some big shots, Cooper stood strong and continued to press getting some shots off of his own but Maxwell controlled the round.
Ref Kieran McCann scored it 60 to 54 to Maxwell I had it 60 to 56 to Maxwell.
Dexter’s Thoughts
Shaun Cooper stepped up the bar and held his own against a world-class contender in Maxwell on Saturday putting on a very credible performance. I can see at the level Cooper is fighting at he will always be the b-side of the coin but I can see him causing some upsets on the way. This way a very good performance against a world-class contender and Cooper can hold his head high after the fight.
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