By James Slater: The career of “Smokin’” Bert Cooper continues. Despite the fact that 45-year-old Philly warhorse Cooper, 38-23(31) was recently hammered to a 2nd-round TKO defeat by unbeaten Cuban prospect Luis Ortiz (Cooper followers are claiming the April stoppage was too fast), Bert is in no rush to hang ’em up.
According to internet news (on Fightnews.com as well as other sites), Cooper will face once-beaten hope Travis Kauffman on the 20th of this month, on a card that will go down in Virginia.
25-year-old Kauffman of Reading, Pennsylvania, known as “GW Hope,” has a good-looking record at 21-1(16) and he will look to continue the winning spell that followed his sole pro loss at the hands of Tony Grano. An exciting fighter to watch, Kauffman has not fought since December of last year, when he won on a DQ. It’s not clear what kind of a test Kauffman will get from the ageing Cooper, nor is it clear what a win will do for Kauffman.
Cooper has been around the block so many times fans have long since lost track of him and his in and out-of-the-ring exploits. As tough and as fearless as they come, Cooper had won two in a row in a comeback that was launched in June of last year following a near-eight-year layoff. The hard loss to Ortiz put things back into perspective, but here Cooper comes again. It really is tough not to root for Bert, one of the sport’s most amazing characters. Don’t expect his latest run to wind up having a happy ending though.
Kauffman, who can bang, is going nowhere if he even struggles to put Cooper away, much less loses to him. Still a fighter worth watching in the opinion of some good judges, Kauffman is both young and hard working. Look for him to bang out Bert inside five-rounds a week on Saturday. But after picking up his 24th pro loss, will the one-time contender who has been in with everyone from Evander Holyfield to Joe Mesi finally face facts and retire?
(Boxrec.com still has Cooper down as facing fellow veteran Oliver McCall on September 10th in Atlanta, Georgia).