Koopman’s rousing fire fight shows his heart and skill. Asked if his fight against Brandon Cook last weekend was the best performance of his career, Shervantaigh Koopman took a deep breath.
After some thought, he gave a considered answer. “It showed a lot about myself,” he said. “People wanted to know about me. Do I have the heart to fight? This was the perfect opponent. I fought fire with fire.”
Indeed, the first round alone captured the fighting spirit of Koopman when he was caught early by an onrushing Cook, who had promised to be in his face. Twice a stunned Koopman took eight-counts, but not only did he swiftly clear his head, he roared back to dump his Canadian opponent on the seat of his pants.
In what may have been the best, most thrilling round of the year in a South African ring, Koopman gathered his senses and finished strongly under the Emperors Palace lights.
As he explained: “It was tense. The guy rushed me. He was looking for the early knockdown and came at me with everything. I brought my feet together and thought I’d just hold him. Then he caught me with a left hook while I was off balance. It was a surprise, an angle I didn’t even see.
“But I came back. I caught him with a hook, which stunned him. As he went back, I went after him with a hard body shot that hurt him. He then realized how heavy-handed I could be.”
If Koopman looked flustered under Cook’s early bombardment, he says he was more surprised than hurt. He thought to himself, “I have to close him down and smother his attack. There’s no way I’m gonna lose.”
He claims he wasn’t hurt at any stage of the fight, although Cook caught him with several overhands that shook him.
“My mistake wasn’t keeping my hands high enough, so it became a fire fight early on.”
As Koopman went to his corner after the first round, trainer Vusi Mtolo urged him to keep his guard up, not get wild and keep his distance.
It was sound advice and Koopman was soon into an easy rhythm that showed off his range of skills, not least a sustained body attack that worked a charm.
“When I caught him to the body, I could see I hurt him. I knew he didn’t like it there; he doesn’t like body punches. Cook wasted so much energy that first round, he couldn’t get enough air to breathe.”
In the second round, Koopman sliced Cook’s forehead open with a slashing right.
“It was a hook right, a sharp, shooting shot,” said Koopman, an assessment that was confirmed by referee Jean Robert Lane.
Koopman was in control all the way thereafter and when events were waved off in the fifth round, it added to a growing groundswell of belief that he’s the best kept secret in the junior-middleweight division, an elite contender capable of hanging with the best.
Koopman gave himself an eight out of 10 for his performance, a mark that might have been higher, he noted, but for dropping his hands too low.
“People were excited and nervous,” he said of the rousing crowd, who gave full voice to their excitement. “I was happy I could put on that sort of performance.”
Some well-earned rest will occupy his time in the weeks ahead, but already Rodney Berman, his promoter, is plotting his future path.
Apart from keeping his eye on the WBA rankings – the Intercontinental crown was on the line last weekend – Berman has been asked about a fight against Uisma Lima, a Europe-based Angolan.
Brian Mitchell, his publicist, will be representing Golden Gloves at the WBC convention in December and could also explore possibilities for Koopman, whose rating by Boxrec shot up to 12th after the win.
The fighter himself is happy to leave such negotiations to his team. His job is to be 100 percent fit and ready, as he was last weekend when he put on a grand show.
