Nicky Cook v Dazzo Williams

[Martin (Top Knowledge)]

Nicky Cook v Dazzo Williams
British & C'Wealth & European featherweight title
16th June

Am I the only one who's getting excited about this young prospect Nicky Cook?

He's been up against real hard competition recently because he's holding the European belt!... (As oppossed to holding the WBU belt at this stage of his career) - That's not a dig at Ricky Hatton... But if you hold the European belt, you don't get the option of picking and choosing who you want to defend against. The board in Italy do the fight picking for you, and they NEVER have your best interests at heart! - Nicky Cook's still unbeaten!

Nicky Cook is a great little fighter, (I only worry that he doesn't carry a big enough punch) - But then again that's always worried me with Ricky Hatton, and he's made it to the top!

My prediction for this fight would be a mid to late stoppage for Nicky Cook.

Dazzo Williams is a good fighter, but I think Nicky Cook has that extra spark that'll move him on.

What do you guys think?

[J !]

yip its a euro level fighter against a british level fighter cook should win. COOK WIDE UD.

i covered cooks last fight see below.

against johnny bregue.

http://www.britishboxing.net/?page=news&id=370

he suffers with bad hand trouble coudl hold him back.

by thw way heres another one i did on mike tyson danny williams!
http://www.britishboxing.net/?page=news&id=475

forgot i did that.

[barryboy]

Yeah I'd go for Cook on points, he seems to have all the moves and hits well to the body considering he's more of a boxer type but he seems to mark up & cut quite easily which could be a problem, should be a good fight with a good atmosphere as both guys always have a good amount of support when they fight but Cook should be too good for him in nearly all departments.

[Rovers]

dazzo causes upset and beats cook hopefully

as hes from hereford

[welshwales]

Im going for Dazzo he has really developed under Dai Gardiner

[barryboy]

Nice to see the 3 titles are up for grabs here I like it. This is Barry McGuigan's take on the fight:

Thursday night’s European, Commonwealth and British featherweight clash between Nicky Cook and Dazzo Williams looks like being another cracking domestic match-up.

Recently on Sky Sports we have seen some great small-hall action between Nigel Wright and Alan Bosworth and although it was brief, Ross Minter and Chas Symonds – and this has the potential to be even better.

In fact, it looks like being a great night and could turn out to be one of the fights of the year between two of the most popular boxers on these shores.

Both European and Commonwealth champion Cook and British title holder Williams are extremely determined characters and both throw plenty of punches, but neither are devastating hitters - which means we are likely to be in for a long evening.

Both are tall and rangy and both struggle to make the limit at featherweight and on paper at least, it looks like a fabulous clash of styles.

I met Cook a couple of weeks ago and I’ve got to say, he looks in tremendous condition. He has been training three times a day out in Tenerife and looked bronzed and very healthy. But the one concern for Nicky has to be his hands. They are small and we know he has had problems with them in the past.

Williams is trained by Dai Gardner which means he will be in great shape himself. Dai is from the old school and he only knows one way to train his fighters - the hard way! You know when any fighter of his climbs into the ring, he will be in excellent condition.

Both men also need to prove a point after their last fights.

Cook was a little disappointing in October when, back in front of the Sky Sports cameras, he had to settle for points win over Johnny Begue, when we all expected him to blow the Frenchman away.

Dazzo will also be looking for a vast improvement from his controversial win over Scotsman John Simpson in November. I have to hold my hands up and say I didn’t see the fight, but by all accounts he was fortunate to keep hold of his British title.

Williams also had a huge slice of luck in his first fight with Roy Rutherford back in November 2003, when I thought he was fortunate to get the decision. He made amends seven months later with a much more mature performance in the rematch and fully deserved the win, but you wonder just how many lives he has got left!

One thing we do know about Dazzo is that he is rarely involved in a dull fight and I am sure that will be the case come Thursday night.

Cook will have a huge and noisy backing as usual, but don’t forget Dazzo is a London lad originally so he will have plenty of local support to go with those who have made the trip from his adopted base in Hereford.

We know the atmosphere will be bristling and I am sure we are going to get a fight to match.

I think the plan for Cook will be to come out and try to take control of the fight and set the pace early on, but at the same time, I expect Williams to try and take the fight to him.

It really is a wonderful clash of styles and by the middle rounds I can see it developing into a real war. It will be nip and tuck the whole way through and although it promises to be close, if I had to pick a winner, I would have to favour Cook.

But whoever comes through, I have no doubt they will fancy a step up in class next - and the obvious choice is WBO champion Scott Harrison.

I know Cook was at ringside at the MEN Arena to see the Scot beat Michael Brodie two weeks ago, and I am sure he saw plenty of signs of encouragement that night.

While he won of course, Harrison did look vulnerable in the third round and it looked like Brodie was breaking the champion up and was going to turn the fight around.

But Harrison pulled out that left hook to the body to end it all - and that is the x-factor that world champions have, the ability to produce something great when it is needed.

Nevertheless, I just get the feeling that he might be on the wane and either either Cook or Williams would provide another stiff test of his credentials.

[Martin (Top Knowledge)]

Interesting stuff... I'm not sure that Harrison would be the best opponent for Nicky Cook though. Cook is a pressure fighter and will probably go to war with Harrison, where as the way to beat Harrison is to play the boxer/counter puncher.

[Martin (Top Knowledge)]

Well Nicky Cook took care of business a lot earlier than I thought he would!

I'm starting to think that a fight between him and Scott Harrison is looking likely.

I've heard that Scott Harrison is close to signing a unification fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, but us British fans have heard a lot of crap like this before and tend to not believe any of it till we see them in the ring together!... LOL!...

So who do you guy's think would win the Harrison vs Cook match up?

[welshwales]

Im not sure to be honest. Would be a good fight though.

[barryboy]

It was a cracking body shot that ended it for Cook and not something I was expecting, I said a distance fight so he did the job a lot better than I thought but I still don't think he'd be strong enough for Harrison at this point, he would most likely try and have a fight with Scott by the sound of him and I don't think that's too wise, I'd say Harrison in the middle rounds if that comes off in the near future(Harrison would get well beaten by Marquez though!)Cook should defend his titles a couple of times first before going for anything bigger though I understand he doesn't want to wait around but assuming he doesn't get the title shot he's got 3 titles to defend himself, not sure about Europe but in Britain he's got Stephen Foster jr who's unbeaten in 18 or John Simpson who was robbed against Dazzo last time out and maybe Roy Rutherford at a push, as a wildcard I'd like to see Willie Limond who's 24-1 and boxing on Friday to move down to feather as he's not big at the higher weight and lacks a bit of power so a move down would suit him I think.