Nicky Cook lost his bid for the WBO super featherweight title earlier today, a TKO-1 defeat at the hands of Ricky Burns, but the unfavorable speculation about the fight continues today, and won't be done until the British Boxing Board of Control has a look. As we mentioned earlier, betting on the fight was shut down earlier today in the UK, as there was a load of suspicious activity coming in on a Burns win in the third round. Even if you go past what's actually suspicious (a sudden massive amount of bets on that particular outcome), the bet seems shady simply because Burns (32-2, 9 KO) isn't a puncher by any means.

Sky Sports has reported that Cook has a prolapsed disc in his back and will be staying overnight in the hospital. The thing is this: I don't think anyone believes that Nicky Cook is faking an injury. He's had back injuries before and quite obviously was in no shape to fight this evening.

What's suspicious is that the fight had so many bets coming in for the third round stoppage. I don't think this is a situation where people are saying that Nicky Cook came in having agreed to lay down and lose the fight. More likely, it's a situation where information was leaked about Cook being in no shape to fight, which opens up the question: Why was he fighting in the first place? How did he get past the exams with this condition, which sent him to the canvas almost immediately? He clearly had no business being in the ring, and it's really not strong to call this fight a farce. One of the men in there physically should not have been in there. I don't even think you can argue that. It's clear as day.