ON February 12, “Lightening” Lenny Daws (20-1-1, eight KOs) will take on Welshman Jason Cook in a defence of his recently-won British light-welterweight title. The Morden man is confident ahead of the test.

“Preparations are going really well,” Daws beamed. “I feel nice and fit, I'm comfortable with the weight and I'm just getting fitter and fitter every day. I'm really looking forward to it. I've had a lot of different sparring partners at Tony Sims' gym. He's got a good range of boxers over there with the likes of Lee Purdy, Brad Evans, Peter McDonagh and a few heavier amateurs. We're covering all areas including box-fighters and swingers, because we know what Cook's going to be like. Sparring is going great!”

His opponent, Jason Cook (26-3, 13 KOs) is a 34-year-old banger from Maesteg, Wales who recently ended Michael Grant's unbeaten record. Daws reckons he can cope with whatever the Prizefighter semi-finalist can throw at him though. “I've not really adjusted my training much for Cook,” Daws revealed. “We've done basically what we normally do. He's a bit of a banger, but I'm just going to box normally, make sure I block everything and hopefully everything will go well.”

He continued, “We always train for the 12 if it has to go that way; he's not been too active though. He has boxed recently, but those sort of fights [Prizefighter three-rounders] are just like sparring sessions really. He can whack a bit though, and he's going to come and have a good go and try and get me early, but as it goes into the later rounds, I definitely think it will suit me.”

In his last bout, Daws, the 2002 ABA light-welterweight champion, avenged a loss against Barry Morrison by way of knockout in the 10th round to regain the British crown. “I was definitely happy with my performance,” Lenny enthused. “For that one, training was spot-on, so we've just done exactly the same again. They have similar sorts of styles as well [Cook and Morrison]; both are hookers and bring the right hands over, so Cook is the ideal opponent to come out of that fight with.”

“I wasn't looking for the stoppage in that one,” he carried on. “But he just got so tired because of my workrate and pace that he couldn't handle it. To get one back on him, because he beat me by split decision last time and I had to wait such a long time to get the rematch, it was a brilliant feeling to do that to him. He's never been stopped like that either, so that made it even better, as well as getting the British back of course.”

Supposing Daws gets through Cook, he doesn't have a solid idea of who he wants to fight next. “There's not really anyone in particular,” he admitted. "I will box anyone now at this stage. If I get past Cook, I've got another fight to go before I've actually claimed a Lonsdale Belt, so that would be an option. Maybe then, I'll move on to the European Title, or whatever is available, and whatever [his promoter] Mick Hennessy can arrange.”

In the last edition of Boxing News (January 29), Beijing Olympian Frankie Gavin declared that, “I've never been a fan of Lenny Daws. He's got an unbelievable workrate, but I've got his number.” Lenny feels “Funtime” Frankie has got some way to go before he is ready for Morden’s finest.

“He's still a six-round fighter at the moment, but if he's ready for it, maybe we can get it on - who knows?” Daws speculated. “It's down to the promoters to work things out; they do call out fighters to make fights. He's trying to big himself up a bit. I think he's got a lot of learning to do before he gets to 12-round level, because he hasn't even gone the distance at six rounds. Obviously they all want to get to title stage, but if he takes his time, he's a good fighter, and when I've moved on, he can rule the division then at domestic level."

Gentleman Daws could not let me go without issuing some thank-yous. ”I'd just like to thank Robert [McCracken] for putting all the time in, because he's a busy trainer, going backwards and forwards. I'd also like to thank Mick Hennessy for sorting everything out for the fight, and hopefully on the 12th it will all go well and we'll move onto bigger and better things.”