Ringside Boxing Report: Nicky Cook – Yuri Voronin

Hells Kitchen At The Goresbrook Leisure Centre in Dagenham, UK.

Matchroom Sport and UK Presents put on a bill headlined by world title prospect Nicky “Cookie” Cook looking to defend his European Featherweight Crown. What transpired was a fierce battle shown live on Sky Sports 1 against the rough and tumble Ukraine fighter Yuri Voronin in front of Cookie’s all singing home crowd. The atmosphere as Voronin entered the ring was intimidating to say the least with huge sections of the

Click for larger image © Simon Shaw Saddo Boxing

crowd turning on him in a traditionally bitter “London Welcome”.

Round one: the crowd roar as the bell sounds and Cookie looks sharp as he flies at Voronin with stinging jabs. Cook unleashes some sickening body shots then fires off some excellent jabs that keep Voronin at bay. Voronin is staying low towards the end of the round and looks scared of Cook’s power.

Round two: Cook again comes out with stinging jabs and looks the business, throwing some hard side to side body shots that have the Ukrainian man seemingly hurt. Midway through the second a fight breaks out behind us that lasts for a good three or four minutes and the security people struggle to cope as one man requires an oxygen mask before things finally cool down. Cook and Voronin seem oblivious to the vicious fighting that left some of the crowd looking visibly scared. Towards the end of the round Cook fires off two solid chopping lefts to the head of Voronin who seems dazed momentarily but recovers well and looks a real tough customer.

Click for larger image © Simon Shaw / Saddo Boxing

Round three: with the small group of troublemakers seemingly ejected from the venue its back to business and Voronin’s dirty tricks campaign starts to take shape. He knows Cook can hurt him and is a far better craftsmen in the ring so the visitor starts holding and hitting Cookie, who shrugs him off then fires in two hard body shots followed by a hard stiff jab and a Short chopping left. Voronin again holds Cook, but as before, Cookie throws him off then steams in with a cracking right uppercut, two solid body shots and a belter of a left hook. Cook looks very controlled as Voronin again does very little.

Round four: Voronin ups the hugging in this quieter round as Cook looks to be drawn into some infighting. Poor round for Cook, who looks frustrated at Voronin’s tactics and unwillingness to let him box.

Round five: Cook comes out strong and lands some thumping combinations consisting of right hand uppercuts, body shots and right handed hooks along with that fast, stinging left jab. The pace forces Voronin to grab Cookie and attempt the first of many headlocks but again Cookie is strong and as the ref breaks them, fires in a cracking right cross then two thumping right hand body shots that have Voronin backpedaling but amazingly, the Ukrainian comes back with hard left hook. Good round for Cook who is clearly in control.

Round six: Voronin comes out throwing wild, wild punches but Cookie’s footwork keeps him well off the challenger’s radar. Suddenly Cook explodes and delivers two hard lefts to the body followed by a good jab that snaps back the visitor’s head with venom. Cook fires in a volley of right crosses as Voronin melts back down to a club-style wrestler.

Round seven: surprisingly, Voronin looks up for this fight now and launches an assault on Cook but misses most of his punches due to Cookie’s twinkle toes and good lateral head movement. Cookie looks fired up now as the chants of “East, East, East London” ring out around the venue and this visibly pipes Cookie up. Hard left by the champion who is now fighting Voronin’s kind of fight and things start to get nasty. Cook looks so much more effective to me when he’s fighting on the outside, doing his business then stepping back out of range but Voronin just wants a street fight now and anyone who’s seen Cookie fight will know full well that he’ll fight spite with spite all night long. The round closes with the crowd roaring Cookie’s name and the man himself landing a cracking left hook to the temple of Voronin.

Round eight: this is where things really get brutal as the previously mentioned dirty tricks by Voronin take effect. Cookie starts well and unloads some serious punishment consisting of even more rib crunching blows with either hand then a great left hook stuns Voronin, who lunges at Cook and a blatant headbutt land right on Cookie’s eyebrow. The cut looks bad as Cook shakes his head and the sight of the claret running down his face ignites Voronin’s evening and he comes forward with menace. The ref (who I must say had a poor night, failing to deduct even one point for the consistent holding by Voronin). calls a time out as the ringside doctor looks at Cook’s eye. All good as the Dagenham Massive go crazy and the Goresbrook is rocking now as Cook seems to take revenge and launches Voronin across the ring and onto his backside.

Round nine: the Cook corner has down wonders to staunch the flow of blood from the champ and Nicky’s manager/promoter Big Jess Harding is up and roaring his young fighter on for the final rounds. The crowd are roaring out..”Cookieeee, Cookieeee, Cookieeee” as the audience favorite steps up the pace now and goes for the knockout. More poor refereeing as Voronin again holds Cook and hits behind the head. Cookie looks more businesslike now and fires in some vicious hooks, uppercuts and more brutal body shots then a wicked hard right to the body that leaves Voronin stunned and holding again. Good round for Cook.

Round ten: the two warriors come toe to toe and Cook, as he has done all night, is first to the jab and fires it in with great skill and speed. As Cook throws some hard body shots and Voronin goes low, an accidental clash of heads occurs and incredibly, Cook is relieved of a point! Voronin is cut above his right eye but lands a good right hook that Cook seems to just walk through before the triple champion lands a stunning combination of one, two and then three stiff right crosses followed by an excellent hard right to the body. Cook’s Tenerife training has obviously paid off as he still looks sharp toward the end with Voronin happy to bleed and hold, doing little else.

Round eleven: Voronin looks drained now and holds again and again which rouses huge boos from the crowd, who want a proper London tear-up for their money. Cook obliges and lands some devastating jabs and straight rights to the face of Voronin who just seems to soak them up and really does look incredibly durable. Voronin, after some more holding, lands a cracking right cross that scores flush on Cook’s jaw.

Round twelve: the Dagenham Massive are on their feet for the final round as both fighters are bleeding and raring to go. Cook starts fiercely and slams home two thumping rights to the body but Voronin comes back strong and throws some wild punches, landing a solid right cross that has Cook (for the first time of the night) backpedaling. Cook comes back strong as a toe to toe session kicks off with the champion coming out on top and Voronin now goes into retreat. As both fighters start to tire, they end up in a clinch, crashing through the ropes. Both are okay as Cook lands a cracking one-two to the head of Voronin and has him hurt. The bell sounds as the ref dives between the two fighters.

Highly entertaining fight as usual from Cook who’s all-out action display will make some fighters/promoters world wide surely sit up and take note. Voronin came to spoil in my opinion but Cookie dealt with an awkward opponent well and deserves a big measure respect for showing his steely “never say die” approach. The judges at ringside award the fight to Nicky Cook, who retains the European Featherweight Championship, by scores of 118-109,116-110 and 115-111. A world title eliminator is surely on it’s way later this year for Cook, now 26-0 (15). Yuri Voronin absorbs the loss to move to 24-5-1 (17).