Patience is a virtue as Cox wins again (From Swindon Advertiser)

Patience is a virtue as Cox wins again

7:00am Saturday 31st October 2009 in Jamie Cox By Anthony Marshall

IT may have lacked some of the style and showboating of his previous fights, but Jamie Cox proved last night in Liverpool that he has the patience and discipline to reach the top of the boxing world.

Those inside the Echo Arena early enough to witness the first fight of the night – including a noisy band of Swindonians who cheered the youngster’s every move – will have noticed a change from Cox’s normal in-ring mentality.

But as he recorded a 13th professional win from as many bouts, with opponent Manoocha Salari retiring at the end of the third round, the Commonwealth Games gold medallist illustrated he has the talent to match whatever comes his way.

Faced with a fighter who seemed reluctant to throw many punches and was continually on the back foot, it would have been easy for Cox to lose patience and steam forward, only to be caught off guard.

But under the guidance of Paddy Fitzpatrck, Paul Rogers and John Costello, the former Walcot man was focussed on the task in hand, and made those long hours of training pay off.

“These fights are all about the game plan,” explained Cox.

“We wanted to just let the fight unfold instead of just going in there and fighting straight away.

“It was all about being educated, seeing what he’s got and dealing with it.

“That’s what we’ve been working on in this camp. We tried to execute it tonight and I think we pulled it off.

“I was enjoying the fight as the rounds were going on. If it was going to go the distance then we would have had more things that we would have tried to work on in the later rounds.

“As it went on I was landing more and more shots and there would have been even more for him if it had continued. But it ended that way and it was a good win.

“We went out there, started with a game plan and ended with a game plan. It all went to plan and that’s the main thing.”

Despite his comfortable victory, Cox believes Salari was one of his toughest opponents to date, and knows his battle with the 35-year-old will stand him in good stead for his potentially glittering future.

“He’s tough and one of the hardest I’ve fought so far,” Cox told the Advertiser.

“He hit hard and he’s physically strong, so that’s why you’ve got to stick to the game plan.

“At one point I threw a left-hand and went a bit off balance, and luckily Manoocha didn’t hit me when I was down. It was just a little stumble, but that’s boxing.

“I survived that and then went on to finish the job off. It’s another win for me, we did the job and I felt really good out there.”