Lightning strike seals victory for lethal Ricky Burns

IT WAS the punch they heard all the way from the Yankee Stadium in New York to Berlin. When Joe Louis, the legendary Brown Bomber, whipped a ferocious hook into the lower ribs of Max Schmeling in the first round of their grudge rematch in June, 1938, Nazi Germany's poster boy collapsed to ignominious defeat and it was later found that Louis had cracked the German's vertebrae.

For Joe Louis, read Bomber Burns. On Saturday night in Liverpool, world super-featherweight champion Ricky Burns from Coatbridge threw the finest punch of his career, and his opponent Nicky Cook's spinal column burst asunder, the diagnosis confirmed in the early hours of Sunday morning as a prolapsed disc caused by that sensational blow.

Nothing had been seen like it in a British ring, or indeed in a world championship fight at any weight since Louis decked Schmeling. In just 93 seconds of one sided-action - "he caught me with one jab, that's all," said Burns later - the champion blasted the English former champion, who has never been a quitter, out of the ring and on to a stretcher.

It was such a brilliant punch that only a few ringside observers, and fortunately the Sky cameras, saw what happened. After just five seconds of the fight, Burns threw a jab with his left, and a possibly ring rusty Cook was late in getting his defence into the correct posture.

That meant his left side was open to Burns, just as he and his trainer Billy Nelson had planned and worked for over many weeks in the rustic Fighting Scots' gym at the back of Stepps in Lanarkshire.

The right hook was so fast and so accurate that not even Burns knew he had thrown the perfect body punch. It landed above the hip in the small ribs, the least protected part of the torso, and the impact travelled deep into Cook's spine.

The challenger yelped and was grimacing in agony even as Burns hit him a solid blow to the side of the head - not a rabbit punch to the back of the head as was erroneously reported - and put him down.

Cook lay prostrate for a few seconds before bravely struggling to his feet as referee Phil Edwards gave him a mandatory count of eight. By this time Cook was already looking to his corner in bewilderment, clearly in massive pain and unable to control his legs.

Many another Scottish boxer has suffered from the fault of failing to finish off a stricken opponent. Not Bomber Burns.

As soon as referee Edwards allowed the fight to continue - and he looked dubious about doing so - Burns came forward and threw another body punch that put Cook down again.

This time the challenger was in such pain that the fight should have been called off, but he is a proud and courageous man and insisted on getting himself up and facing Burns.

The champion had no hesitation, wading in and sending Cook to the canvas for a third time. His cornermen had been ready to throw in the towel after the second knock-down, but this time they had no choice and referee Edwards was already moving to end the fight as the compassionate white flag of surrender fluttered into the ring.

Make no mistake, the persistent speculation that Cook was carrying a spinal problem may be true, though he had passed all the stringent medical exams, but it was the punching power of Burns that felled the Englishman.

The whole boxing world will sit up and take notice of Burns now that he has shown his power, for it was the Bomber's punch that looks to have ended Cook's career.

Burns said of his punch par excellence: "You can see that it was clean on to his ribs. It was a good hard shot and I felt it right up my arm.

"We have been working on the body shots a lot, especially on the (padded) body belt, and I just seem to be getting better with every fight."

Burns' coach Billy Nelson said: "Ricky is the best super-featherweight in the world. I do not find it an unsatisfactory way to win. Winning the fight in the first round keeps the miles on the clock."It is sad to report that there appears to be a serious falling out between Alex Arthur and Ricky Burns' camp.

Nelson alleged that Arthur was making cut-throat gestures and supporting Cook, who removed his WBO championship from him. Arthur, of course, is one of just two men to have beaten Burns.

Burns said: "I have heard the rumours, but I have never disrespected Alex Arthur so I don't see why he should be doing that to me."

Nelson was livid: "Alex couldn't win the word title in the ring. He had to be given it and never defended it. There's a good trivia question - who got the world title but never won it in the ring?"

Arthur could not be contacted yesterday, but the ever voluble boxer-turned-promoter from Edinburgh will no doubt give his version of events. Either way, Scottish boxing is not so grand a scene as to have two of its greatest shining lights of recent years in dispute.

For now, all the concentration should be on Burns and that amazing punch, which will now surely give him the title chance he craves against Mzonke Fana for the Ring magazine's prestigious belt.

There was one difference between Ricky Burns and Joe Louis. The great American took 134 seconds to finish his contest against Schmeling, Scotland's world champion did it in 93. The new Bomber has truly arrived.