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Playmaker to haymakers: Australia's Cooper relishing boxing return
By Peter Thompson
The fear of suffering a humiliating knockout will fuel Quade Cooper when the Australia fly-half attempts to maintain his perfect professional boxing record on Friday.
Cooper has won both his fights in the professional ranks and will aim to make it three out of three when he goes toe-to-toe with Jack McInnes in a cruiserweight bout on the undercard to the rematch between Anthony Mundine and Danny Green.
The 28-year-old playmaker said his training regime and the bout at Adelaide Oval should stand him in good stead when he makes his Reds return this month.
"Every time I get in the ring, for my own personal growth it's been great," the former Toulon man told rugby.com.au.
A photo posted by Quade Cooper (@quadecooper) on Feb 1, 2017 at 10:04pm PST
"You get a lot of confidence out of stepping into that ring, overcoming that fear.
"There's a natural fear every time you step into the ring, where you could possibly get knocked out, you could possibly get humiliated in front of a massive audience.
"So it's one of those things I train very hard for and I'm very passionate about."
Cooper added: "Having the opportunity to box once a year during my rugby career has been great but it's one of those things you get addicted to.
"My focus is on rugby for a fair few more years now but when the time comes if I get the opportunity and continue to improve and grow as a boxer in the short amount of time I get to box I'd love to continue it on.
"It's great for your body and great for your mind."
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Latest Comments
The New Zealand performance in the return fixture in 2016 was filthy. A lot of Irish supporters were pretty shocked by it, viewed it as de facto cheating just to avoid another defeat.
Also shocked by the abuse to Ireland, captain, vice-captain and spectators after the full time whistle in Paris defeat, last match.
Sledging is sledging, but that happens during the game and targetting spectators should be completely out of bounds.
The Irish public used to enjoy these matches, even in defeat. Now they are necessary but unpleasant, because NZ apparently cannot accept or respect successful challengers.
Go to commentsThanks for the analysis Nick, thought provoking as usual. Couple of queries though, in the pic where you've circled Williams bind , I'm pretty sure it shows Stuart's knee on the ground, surely that's a NZ penalty? Also having had the chance to watch it again the All Black scrum seeems to improve after halftime, but before either England or the All Blacks replace their props. Not sure if that was the result of Tuipolutu coming on or some halftime tips. Either way this is only Williams second international season, so he'll be better for the experience.
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