{"id":326066,"date":"2023-08-25T21:19:30","date_gmt":"2023-08-25T21:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=326066"},"modified":"2023-08-25T22:00:37","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T22:00:37","slug":"cooper-ready-to-floor-hodges-in-boxings-state-of-origin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=326066","title":{"rendered":"Cooper ready to floor Hodges in boxing's State of Origin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boxing will have its own State of Origin<\/a>-style fight come October 7 when NSW Blues<\/a> legend Matt Cooper takes on Queensland Maroons<\/a> icon Justin Hodges<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cooper, 44, will make his boxing debut in Stan's live and exclusively pay-per-view 'Battle on the Reef' bout.<\/p>\n

The pair enjoyed a fiery rivalry in the NRL<\/a> which is set to reignite in the boxing ring.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from 'Battle on the Reef' on October 7.<\/strong><\/em> Available to watch via pay-per-view live and exclusively on Stan<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

While Cooper is a relative newcomer to the sport, he's adamant he'll floor his 41-year-old opponent.<\/p>\n

"He was the centre, I was the centre, and we just had a massive rivalry on the field," Cooper told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"We're good mates. I respect Justin as a fighter. I think he's got great skills, I think I'm just gonna be too fresh for him and too fast \u2013 I'm just ready to hurt someone."<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

Cooper is expecting to receive a fairly terse reaction from the Townsville fans when he walks out \u2013 and he'd not have it any other way.<\/p>\n

"When I played State of Origin, I liked playing at Suncorp better than Homebush because I enjoy the boos," he explained.<\/p>\n

"I enjoy that, that inspires me. I hope they're all booing me because I am a New South Wales player.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Bombers' captain grills 'mediocre' side after thrashing<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>'Disaster' strikes All Blacks on eve of World Cup<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Spanish football boss 'will not resign' over kiss scandal<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

"I played seven Origin series, I was fortunate enough to win two, and I'm just gonna relish the moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"They can boo all they want, it's not gonna affect me, it's actually gonna inspire me. I'm looking forward to it."<\/p>\n

Although this will be Cooper's first professional fight, he's been fighting behind the scenes for years.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

Cooper has trained out of Freestyle MMA in Wollongong \ufefffor 15 years with the guidance of Joe Lopez, who coaches UFC featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski.<\/p>\n

As for starting his boxing career so late, Cooper said he's still mentally as fit as when he played NRL.<\/p>\n

Physically, he still believes he's more than capable and cited Paul Gallen's ability to fight into his early 40s as an example.<\/p>\n

"To be honest, I'm in a good place and I've always wanted to do it," said Cooper.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1694839075600277719<\/a><\/p>\n

"Even though I am a bit older, I don't feel old. I still feel young. I've always wanted to jump in the cage and have an MMA fight since the day I retired from footy but it just just didn't happen. I still love boxing. Boxing was the first discipline that I learned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Now is a great time to start my career. You look at some of the fighters that have fought in the past, especially against Gal, they were all in their mid-40s and still performing great.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I feel like I'm fresh because I haven't been in the ring. It's my time. I feel like I'm ready. I just want to experience that feeling of being in the ring and actually having a fight one-on-one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Playing football, you're with your teammates, but in the ring it's just you and your opponent and that's what it's all about and I want to experience that and I'm ready for it."<\/p>\n

Cooper is hoping his fight against Hodges is the first of many.<\/p>\n

"This is just the start," he said.<\/p>\n

"I still feel young and my body is really good considering I played 15 years of first grade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"My body's great, my mind's great, and I'm excited for my boxing career just to go from leaps to bounds."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boxing will have its own State of Origin-style fight come October 7 when NSW Blues legend Matt Cooper takes on Queensland Maroons icon Justin Hodges. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":326068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326066"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=326066"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326071,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326066\/revisions\/326071"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/326068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=326066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=326066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=326066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}