Champion Lenny Daws fires warning to rusty Jason Cook

BBC Sport10th February, 2010

British light-welterweight champion Lenny Daws says challenger Jason Cook's inactivity will tell against him in Friday's title fight at the York Hall.

Maesteg's ex-European lightweight king Cook retired in 2005 and has fought just 10 rounds since a 2009 return.

"We always train for the 12 if it has to go that way," Morden's Daws, 31, told the Boxing News website. "He's not been too active though."

Cook, 34, said: "Training's brilliant, I'll be in the shape of my life."

The Welshman's colourful career saw him win Commonwealth Games silver in 1994, but he went off the rails when he was sentenced to 15 months in prison for credit card fraud.

He re-focused during his incarceration, and within 12 months of his release claimed the vacant European lightweight title with a stunning knock-out of Sandro Casamonica in Italy.

Injuries and weight problems played a part in limiting heavy-punching Cook's subsequent impact, and he retired in 2005 with a record showing 24 wins and two defeats.

He returned with a fourth-round stoppage of Scott Jordan last September, before competing in December's three-round Prizefighter series where he defeated Michael Grant then lost to Gavin Rees.

"I'll be 35 soon but age doesn't mean anything, look at Shane Mosley and Bernard Hopkins," said Cook.

"I'm just as fit now as I was when I was 28.

"I've done 12 rounds of sparring or 14 rounds of pad-work some days and still left the gym feeling good. I feel rejuvenated."

Londoner Daws will be making the first defence of the title he won in a bout with Barry Morrison last September.

It is his second stint as champion, Daws having lost to Morrison in his first defence in 2007, the only reverse of his seven-year, 22-fight career.

"[Cook] can whack a bit and he's going to come and have a good go and try and get me early, but as it goes into the later rounds, I definitely think it will suit me," said Daws.

-->