British bantamweight champion Andrew Cain (13-1, 12 KOs) made light work of late replacement Lazaro Casseres (11-1, 4 KOs) with a spiteful performance on the undercard of Nick Ball’s title defense against Ronny Rios.
Cain, 28, got down to business from the off and thudded in hard shots in his typical aggressive style in round one. The local fighter pushed the traveling Colombian into each corner and displayed his power with frightening hooks.
After Cain’s efforts in the first, it seemed only a matter of time until Casseres would succumb to his power and hit the canvas. That moment happened early in the second round when Cain found a home for a right uppercut on the chin of Casseres.
The Colombian fell to the floor but managed to make referee Victor Loughlin’s 10-count on shaky legs. Casseres was then trying to survive a barrage of punches coming his way from Cain and after a vicious left hook rocked him, Victor Loughlin saved the fighter from taking further punishment. The time of the stoppage was 1 minute 48 seconds of round two.
By then Joe Cooper (2-0, 0 KOs) had earned himself a hard-fought victory over the game Lukasz Barabasz (4-14, 2 KOs) in his second professional contest.
Cooper started the fight by using his stiff left jab to land shots to the head and body of Barabasz. Cooper displayed his skills early on and impressed his traveling fans by making the game Barabasz miss and countering seemingly at will at times.
Barabasz, 35, came out for the second with the aim to put a halt to the flashy skills of Cooper and had success in spells. Barabasz was able to walk through some of the shots coming at him and land the odd flurry to the body.
Cooper’s movement slowed down in the third, and he elected to counter Barabasz off the ropes with sharp hooks that seemed to have no effect on the game Pole. Cooper was still winning the exchanges, but the strength of the oncoming Barabasz was clearly having an impact on the youngster.
The fourth round delivered the best action of the fight: as Cooper started to tire, the work rate of Barabasz seemed to increase. The experienced fighter pushed the youngster back and both men fired winging hooks at each other. The round ended with both men swinging away with the little energy they had left, and they both sunk into their respective corners at the sound of the final bell.
Referee Steve Gray awarded Cooper the victory with a score of 40-37. The young fighter seemed disappointed with his performance but will one day be thankful for the experience of sharing a ring with the tough Barabasz.
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