Nicky Cook v Steve Luevano
Nicky Cook v Steve Luevano
Cook was floored five times in total with Luevano’s body shots doing the greatest damage, accounting for three of the knockdowns in a thrilling clash at the O2 Arena.
The power and accuracy of Luevano, whose record now reads 33 victories in 34 contests, gave him the edge but it was a courageous performance from Cook.
Cook was scheduled to meet Scott Harrison for the same title in December only for the fight to be abandoned when the troubled Scot, besieged by personal problems, failed to show up for the weigh in.
The 27-year-old was left £20,000 out of pocket but his patience since paid off with promoter Frank Warren securing him a second crack at the title against Californian Luevano.
The fight got off to a nervy opening amid a flurry of missed punches but Cook was woken up in the second round by a left hook from Luevano that sent him tumbling to the canvas.
Luevano tried to press home the advantage when the count was completed, firing a straight left from his southpaw stance but Cook recovered before finishing the round with some body shots.
Another crisp hook had Cook reeling in the third and his problems deepened in the fourth when he staggered after receiving a straight left, ending the round on the retreat.
A fiery exchange in the sixth brought Cook’s fans to their feet and Luevano was rocked by a left hook after being pinned in the corner.
Cook’s confidence grew amid a barrage of successful body punches and by the end of the eighth he was in control with Luevano lacking the sharpness of earlier rounds.
But he was back on the canvas in the ninth when two sickening body punches – a pair of identical left hooks – twice sent him sprawling.
Refusing to be beaten, Cook took the knockdowns as his queue to start unloading on Luevano and some more ferocious exchanges ensued.
But the American’s body punching was taking a terrible toll and the decisive shot was delivered in the 11th, another hook to the ribs that saw Cook counted out 30 seconds into the round.
Bradley Pryce defended his Commonwealth light-middleweight title with a seventh-round stoppage of Anthony Small.
Small, unbeaten in 17 fights, started the fight well but, by the sixth round, Pryce’s punches began to take their toll and left him with a bloody nose.
The decisive blows landed in the next round when Welshman Pryce connected with a big right hand before finishing his opponent with a barrage of unanswered punches.
Small and his corner complained bitterly at the referee’s decision to halt the fight two minutes and 14 seconds into the seventh but his failure to offer any resistance to Pryce’s onslaught fully justified the decision.
