17.04.07 – Former World Super-Middleweight Champion Richie Woodhall has backed his young charge Jamie Cox to become a world champion. Woodhall held the WBC world title in the late 90’s and now trains the 2006 Commonwealth Games Champion who makes his highly anticipated professional debut on Saturday 26th May at the ExCeL London. “Jamie has ‘world champion’ stamped all over him,” began Woodhall, who trains Cox at his gym in Telford..
“It’s my first year as a professional trainer and I’m delighted that a class act like Jamie has joined me. At the moment he is showing me the talent that took him to win the Gold medal at the Commonwealth Games but there is still so much more untapped potential to be brought out of him and this will come with age and experience. He was a phenomenal amateur and I believe that in a few years time he will a force to be reckoned with on the world scene.”
He continued, “In the amateurs it’s all about hit, move, tap-tap and scoring points but Jamie’s got great all-round ability and his style is more suited to the pros so I have been working on planting his feet move and moving his waist to get more power,”
“Jamie is a dream to train and he’s enjoying working in the gym and that is an important factor to success if you are happy where you work.”
Shropshire hero Woodhall had a fantastic amateur career in which he won bronze at the 1988 Olympics and went on to achieve plenty in his pro career . His first challenge for a world title ended unsuccessfully against Keith Holmes in America for the WBC Middleweight crown in 1996. The highlight was winning the WBC title against Thulani Malinga in 1998. Two successful defences followed against Glenn Catley and Vincenzo Nardiello but he then lost the title to Marcus Beyer on points. His last fight was against current WBO World Champion Joe Calzaghe in December 2000 and he retired from the sport shortly after following a severe reoccurring back injury that ended his hopes of a comeback. He is now a successful radio and TV boxing commentator on the BBC.
His big fight experience will prove invaluable to the 19-year-old hotshot from Swindon who is regarded as one of the hottest young talents around.
Woodhall added,”Jamie’s always asking questions and eager to learn and he’s very quick at picking things up. It’s always good to have someone who’s been at the top and experienced everything along the way to explain things and this is what I have been doing with Jamie and he listens. The main thing I have been telling him is to be patient which is very hard when you are a young fighter just starting out and you want to take on the world.”
Cox, who is raring to go ahead of his pro-debut and is awaiting confirmation of his opponent, said, “It’s great to have someone like Richie in your corner who has been there, seen it and done it in his career. You can’t put a price on the knowledge that he has passed on to me but I’m soaking it all up and I aim to achieve what he has in his career and become a world champion. For now I’m concentrating on my first fight and the preparations have been going great and I’m really looking forward to it.”
The main event on the show features the rematch between Michael Sprott and Matt Skelton for the Commonwealth and English Heavyweight titles. An action-packed undercard includes Kevin ‘Mighty’ Mitchell and younger brother ‘Vicious’ Vinny, the return of Graham Earl, Former European Featherweight Champion Nicky Cook, heavyweight Derek ‘Del Boy’ Chisora, former British Featherweight Champion Andy Morris, the highly anticipated professional debut of Swindon’s 2006 Commonwealth Games Champion Jamie Cox plus Eddie Cocoran and Grant Skehill.
Matthew Marsh takes on Rocky Dean for the Vacant South Area Super-Bantamweight Championship and Thomas McDonagh and Martin Concepcion face each other in an Eliminator for the British Light-Middleweight title.
Tickets for Revenge, priced at £40 £50 £75 £100 £150 & £200, are available from:
SEE TICKETS: 0870 060 3794 www.seetickets.com
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