Amir Khan vs Breidis Prescott and Alex Arthur vs Nicky Cook official full on-site £50 ticket billed "2 Hot 2 Handle" 6th September 2008, M.E.N Arena, Manchester.

Condition mint

Prescott W KO 1

It took only 54 seconds for the unknown Breidis Prescott to emphatically confirm that the doubters were correct in thinking that Amir Khan’s chin would not stand up to a shot from a legitimate, hard punching lightweight. Having already been floored heavily and almost stopped by the light-punching former super-feather Willie Limond, and more recently by another ex-130lber Michael Gomez, there were serious questions surrounding Khan’s punch resistance ahead of his meeting with the dangerous-looking Prescott.

After being rocked by a stiff jab just seconds into the fight, a quick left hook from Prescott buckled Khan’s legs, before a straight right and another left hook dropped him heavily. Khan was on shaky legs when he rose and perhaps should have been stopped; had it been Prescott in that kind of state you have to think that the ref would have waved it off there and then. As it was, Khan was allowed to continue just long enough to take another left hook to the chin, and that was all she wrote. The unheralded Columbian had done what the bookies and the Khan hype-machine thought to be almost impossible and stopped the former Olympic silver medallist.


Cook W unanimous decision

Nicky Cook scored a major upset in Manchester as he took Alex Arthur's WBO super-featherweight title with a brilliant display of controlled boxing.

Working behind a quick jab, Cook, 28, showed greater mobility than the champion to grind his way to a clear points win, taking a 117-111, 115-114 and 117-112 decision from the ringside judges.

Cook constantly out-worked a sluggish and one-paced Arthur and dug deep when he was briefly hurt in the seventh and 11th rounds.

Afterwards, Arthur, 30, demanded an immediate rematch with Cook, asking for a return on December 6, but may struggle to have his wish granted.

It was the first defence of the title he was handed when Joan Guzman vacated, and it will be a bitter pill to swallow after being billed as a potential super-star north of the border.

The Scotsman genuinely believed he had won the fight, and seemed mystified when told that even the Scottish press had Cook ahead.

"I really, really thought I won the fight," said a disappointed Arthur, who slipped to his second career defeat against 26 wins.

"Every fighter knows when he has won or lost, and Nicky thought he had lost.

"I thought I was controlling the fight and I thought Nicky was gassing. The last three rounds, he didn't want to fight."

Arthur refused to blame his well-documented struggles to make super-featherweight for the defeat, but he looks too big for 9'4.

He insisted that he would remain at super-featherweight but needed to be more active after just two fights in two years, but a run at lightweight shouldn't be ruled out.

Problems on the scales would explain the way he failed to move through the gears after a typically slow start which, on my card, saw him lose the first three rounds.

He seemed to be gaining a foothold in rounds four, five and six, but in the second half of the fight Cook constantly beat him to the punch as both men frequently exchanged jabs and body shots.

It was an excellent fight to watch, and Arthur marched forward for most of the time, but it was only on a couple of occasions that he had Cook genuinely on the back foot.

Mainly, Cook pumped out his jab, and although he conceeded ground, he counter-punched beautifully.

The champion had his moments, notably in the seventh when a long right hand badly hurt Cook, who appeared to cling on to his opponent to save himself from going down.

But the challenger responded with a brilliant eighth in which he repeatedly nailed Arthur with right hands of his own.

Cook, now 29-1, looked the smaller man - as you would expect from a career featherweight - but moving to 9'4 seems to have given him a new lease of life now he doesn't have to boil down to nine stone.

And he managed to turn the old boxing adage of "a good big'un beats a good little'un" on its head.

At the end of the fight, both men embraced after what had been an excellent showing worthy of the world title on offer.

"I got beaten in my first world title fight, but I came back stronger and I am so delighted with what I have done tonight," said Cook.

Despite much of its talent moving to lightweight, super-featherweight still remains an attractive division, and Cook can now contemplate a series of big fights.

One he is unlikely to have is against gym-mate Kevin Mitchell, who was quick to distance himself from a shot at Cook's title in the aftermath of the win.

Price: £ SOLD

Breidis Prescott Knocks Out Amir Khan In 54 Seconds

Nicky Cook current WBO super-featherweight champion and is the former British, Commonwealth and European featherweight champion.

Cook turned professional in December 1998 in Hertfordshire, England. In his debut Cook defeated English journeyman Sean Grant with a first round knockout.
After fifteen fights in December 2001 unbeaten Cook beat Argentinian Marcelo Gabriel Ackermann for the vacant and lightly regarded WBF Intercontinental super featherweight title. He defended the strap twice before getting his chance to compete for the Commonwealth belt.

In February 2003 Cook fought the Zimbabwaen Meshack Kondwani for the vacant Commonwealth Featherweight belt. He defended twice against Africans David Kiilu and Anyetie Laryea before taking on Cyril Thomas for the European belt also at featherweight. He won the fight with a 9th round knockout, he made one defence before taking on British champion Dazzo Williams in June 2005. The fight took place at the Goresbrook Leisure Center in Dagenham and was significant because it meant the British, Commonwealth and European titles were all on the line in a winner take all contest. Cook stopped Williams in the 2nd round thus holding all three belts at the same time.

Cook defended his European title once more beating Yuri Voronin on points over 12 rounds again in Dagenham. After that he decided to concentrate on his ambition to win a real 'world' title and set his sights on current holder of the WBO Featherweight belt Scott Harrison. The fight was set for December 2006 in what would have been an England vs Scotland clash for a world belt, it never happened however as Harrison pulled out and decided to vacate the title citing difficulties making the weight. It hadn't helped that Harrison had also spent 13 weeks in a Spanish prison prior to the bout and had only been released in November. Cook was left frustrated and instead of fighting for the world title on the card he ended up beating Harry Ramogoadi in an eight rounder.

In July 2007 Cook finally got his chance and took on American Steve Luevano for the now vacant WBO belt. The fight took place at the O2 Arena in London and ended disappointingly for Cook as he was knocked down 5 times and finally stopped in the 11th round it was his first defeat as a professional. Cook got another opportunity to fight for the WBO belt in September 2008 when he decided to move up a weight division and challenge Alex Arthur for the WBO Super-Featherweight title. Finally the public got to see an England-Scotland match up for a world belt that they were denied when Harrison vacated. The fight took place at the Manchester MEN Arena and was the chief support to Amir Khan's ill-fated match up with Colombian Breidis Prescott when he was knocked out within a minute. Cook beat Arthur over 12 rounds to win a unanimous decision. The parallels were striking between the fighters as Arthur was also a former British, Commonwealth and European champion at the higher weight, he had also been beaten only once before. After the fight Arthur claimed he had been "robbed" and also alleged that Cook had gone up to him after the fight and said "You're a great champion, you won the fight well done" thus compounding his sense of shock when the verdict was announced.