Cage Contender XIII: Conor Cooke v John Michael Shiel Preview

John Michael Sheil  -v- Conor ‘Da Crooke’ Cooke takes place at 185 and is one of several fights on the card that has ‘Fight of the Night’ potential as unbeaten JMS  goes toe-to-toe with former boxing champion Conor Cooke in what is sure to be a thriller.

Sheil is a heavy-handed and accurate puncher with all seven of his career victories coming by way of stoppage due to strikes. He mixes up his strikes and last time out he earned a dominant knockout victory over UFC and TUF vet Ross Pointon, using vicious uppercuts to twice drop his opponent en route to the first round finish. He likes to throw bombs and in Pointon he found an opponent willing to stand and trade. Cooke is unlikely to simply stand in front of JMS though, and will use the skills he learned during his boxing days to avoid the power shorts of the dangerous Dubliner. Sheil also has a rock-solid chin so Cooke’s best chance of winning this bout may come through circling and counter-punching.

While this fight will almost definitely take place on the feet, the ground game cannot be ignored. If it does go the mat, the advantage has to go JMS who will have SBG supremo and BJJ black-belt John Kavanagh in his corner. In his fight with Victor Cheng, JMS survived a two round BJJ onslaught from the Swedish pioneer to earn a KO win in the third, so be sure he is well schooled on the mat.

As mentioned above, Cooke has excellent boxing pedigree and uses long reach to land a solid jab which he should use to keep JMS at a distance. If the fight becomes a brawl it will suit the I-want-to-take-your-head-off style of JMS so Cooke will have to box smart. He does possess power of his own but it will be when and how he decides to implement it that decides if he can win this fight.