Owen Cooper exclusive: Ekow is a great fighter but I’m very confident of winning

When Owen Cooper sat down and thought about where his career stood following his impressive win over Eithan James in March, the 23-year-old knew that his next step would be absolutely crucial.

Cooper knew that he had accomplished his goal of establishing himself as a serious player in the welterweight division but he wasn’t yet in the position where he could take some time, relax and wait for the ideal opportunity to present itself.

“I have massive belief in my coach”

Luckily, his phone rang pretty quickly and the English welterweight couldn’t have been happier with the name he was offered.

On Saturday night, Cooper, 10-0 (4 KOs), will fight former long reigning British welterweight champion, Ekow Essuman, 19-1 (7 KOs), in Birmingham. The fight will be shown live on TNT Sport. For all the latest fight odds, visit our sportsbook.

“We didn’t really know too much about what was gonna happen next. We tend to stay in the gym even when we haven’t got anything planned, just ticking over and working on things.

“We’ve said for years now that that would be a great fight to have and that if we ever got the opportunity we’d take it in a heartbeat. No disrespect to Ekow, he’s a great fighter. We’re just very confident of winning,” Cooper told 32Red.

Cooper will be approaching the fight with Essuman with the same level of confidence as he did his bout with the previously unbeaten James but knows that the veteran from Nottingham presents a much different challenge.

“As a fighter you’ve got to be confident”

Against James, Cooper had to work out how to track down and trap a clever, slick mover but boxed smartly and aggressively from the opening bell, dropping James in the opening round and eventually stopping him in the ninth. Essuman is equally as aggressive and active as Cooper and he knows this will be a much different affair.

“I believe in my coach, Malcolm [Melvin], massively. I just knew that as long as I did everything he said I wouldn’t go far wrong. We were confident going into that fight, even knowing Eithan was a good lad but as a fighter I think you’ve got to be confident in yourself because if you aren’t, who will be?” he said.

“It was a very good fight and a good fight to get my name out there. It’s obviously pushed me onto bigger fights like this one.

“At the press conference [for this fight] I was asked if I was taking anything from the Ethan fight and I kept saying that, for me, that fight is forgotten about because this is a completely different type of fight and it’s another step up.”

Cooper impressively kept his composure and he controlled the tempo and range of the fight throughout and paced himself perfectly. Essuman has earned his nickname of ‘The Engine’ and likes to work at a relentless pace himself. This promises to be a totally different test of Cooper’s abilities but the winners could be the fans. Cooper knows he will once again need to keep his cool but if he and Essuman collide as expected, it could produce a thrilling spectacle.

“It’s about staying composed”

“It’s a completely different way of staying relaxed because you haven’t gotta go looking for Ekow. He’s definitely gonna come and he’s gonna bring it with a high workrate. It’s about staying composed. You’re round to take a couple of shots here and there because it’s boxing but you can’t get flustered when you get caught with the odd shot and start going gung-ho. You have to stay calm and stick to the plan.”

Cooper’s emergence as an important part of the British welterweight scene couldn’t have been timed any better. He lives in Worcester which is less than an hour from the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham and given the popularity of Queensberry’s multi title ‘Magnificent Seven’ shows and current explosion of talent from The Midlands, he should get plenty of chances to display his skills.

“They are great shows. The last one in Birmingham was a really good show, so was the one before that in Manchester. They’re just really good crowd pleasing fights. I think it’s really good that these kind of shows are being put on and especially in The Midlands.”

To see all our latest boxing markets, check out 32Red Sport here. If you’re up for a flutter on table games or the slots, be sure to check out our award-winning casino too!