James Simon Russan (born 24 August 1986), best known as Jamie Cox,^[2] is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2007 to 2018. who held the Commonwealth light-middleweight title from 2011 to 2012. As an amateur, he won a gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.^[1]

Quick Facts Born, Nationality ...

Jamie Cox
Born	James Simon Russan (1986-08-24) 24 August 1986 (age 37) Swindon, Wiltshire, England
Nationality	British
Statistics
Weight(s)	Welterweight Light-middleweight Super-middleweight
Height	5 ft 11 in (180 cm)[1]
Stance	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	27
Wins	25
Wins by KO	14
Losses	2
Medal record Men's amateur boxing Representing  England English National Championships 2005 London Light-welterweight English National Championships 2006 London Light-welterweight Commonwealth Games Melbourne 2006 Light welterweight

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Cox was a standout amateur who boxed for the Walcot ABA club in Swindon. Boxing at light welterweight, he won the 2005 ABA championships^[3] and won Gold for England in the 2006 Commonwealth Games. He claimed the gold medal in Melbourne by means of a walkover when his opponent Moses Kopo of Lesotho pulled out of the final. Former world champion Richie Woodhall commentating at the games said "He won't have fancied taking him on...he'll have known that Cox was favourite and he could really hurt him."^[4] Jamie chose to turn pro in February 2007 and signed for Frank Warren. It was also announced at the time that Woodhall would be his trainer.^[5]

In July 2007 Jamie made his professional debut at the O2 Arena with a unanimous 4 round points victory over journeyman Johnny Greaves and fought 3 more times that year to end 2007 with a record of 4-0. By October 2008 that record had stretched to 8-0, a milestone achieved whilst fighting in his home town of Swindon for the first time as a professional. Cox defeated the tough and experienced journeyman Billy Smith, stopping him in the 5th round in front of 1500 fans.^[6] Cox finished the year on a high, when on 6 December and fighting at the Excel Arena in London's Docklands he scored a first-round knockout over the normally durable journeyman Ernie Smith.

In February 2009 Cox boxed in Swindon for the second time, scoring a first-round knockout of Doncaster's Jason Rushton. After the fight Cox said that he would like to meet reigning British champion Kell Brook by the end of the year.^[7] On 24 April Cox defeated Mark Lloyd at the civic hall in Wolverhampton eventually stopping the Shropshire man in the 8th and final round despite being behind on the referee's points card at the time.^[8] Cox returned to Swindon on 25 July 2009 and boxed another 8 rounds defeating the Hungarian journeyman Janos Petrovics for a wide points win and finished off the year with a victory over Worksop based Iranian Manoocha Salari.

Cox's first fight of 2010 took place at the Wembley Arena on 13 February, scoring an 8-round victory of Mauritius's London based fighter Michael Frontin. The points win of 78-76 branded Cox's trainer Paddy Fitzpatrick to label the performance "undisciplined" and gave him a "5 out of 10" rating because he hadn't done "what I asked him to".^[9] Despite the performance however Cox was promised an eliminator for Brook's British title against fellow contender Mark Thompson, a man boasting a record of 23 wins with just the one defeat.^[10]

On 2 March 2010, Cox was found guilty by a jury of assaulting a man outside a Swindon bar. Speaking of the event which happened during a night out, Cox told the jury "I feel terrible, I deserve everything I get from it." The incident had followed an argument with a man whom Cox alleged had verbally abused him before the men got into what Cox described as a "little tussle". Sentencing was set for 25 March 2010,^[20] with Cox receiving a suspended sentence of six months and ordered to pay compensation, court costs and community service of 250 hours.^[21] In early 2016 Cox was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison for assault, harassment, violence to secure entry and criminal damage, which occurred in an attack on his ex-girlfriend in which he threatened to "Knock you spark out" "The WBO European super-middleweight champion was heard in a recording of a 999 call to say: "I will knock you spark out." "The boxer said he had “barged” through her front bedroom doors because he feared she “could kill herself”, which he said she had previously threatened to do.".^[22] However, in June 2016, he was released from prison, his conviction was overturned and all charges were suspended on appeal.^[23]