FOR most men of 21, a fortnight holidaying in Ibiza would represent their idea of heaven.
Yet, for Totton boxer Danny Cooper, pictured above, it was the holiday from hell.
The teetotal super-fit welterweight got so fed up with the boozy antics of British lads abroad that he packed his bags and came home - after just five days!
That was 14 years ago, but Cooper admits he hasn't changed and has still never touched so much as a drop of alcohol in his life.
Next Monday, at Southampton Guildhall, he makes his second professional comeback fight after an amazing 11-year absence. And the 35-year-old remains firmly convinced that his iron discipline out of the ring will make all of the difference when he climbs between the ropes.
Cooper said: "Not drinking has definitely helped and I think it has given me that extra edge.
"I've never had one drink in my life and, hand on heart, I know that no one can ever say they have seen me have a drink. I've also never smoked - I've seen what it does to other people."
The highly popular Totton fighter stresses he has nothing against people drinking. It's just something he finds a major turn-off.
He said: "Basically you see people paying to make themselves ill. You see crowds of blokes just going out, getting smashed and making themselves ill and that isn't for me. People have really tried to persuade me to drink, when I was on that holiday in Ibiza and on my 21st birthday, but I didn't fancy it.
"I would just probably end up making a fool of myself and I don't like the smell of alcohol or tobacco."
He added: "Fair play to people who like a drink, but I just feel alcohol is a drug and it can be worse for you than a lot of other drugs.
"I train hard and put my body through a lot during the week. If you have trained four or five times why then go out drinking? You are sacrificing all the work you have done. I wouldn't want to do that."
A family man, Cooper prefers to relax from his gruelling training programme with girlfriend Ruth and children Jack and Ellie, as well as unwind with the occasional game of snooker or golf.
In his first comeback fight he recovered from a knockdown to box his way to a comfortable points victory against Daniel Gwilliam.
On Monday he faces Stourport's Ernie Smith, who at 24, is amazingly already a veteran of more than 50 fights.
Cooper, who made his pro debut way back in 1986, believes that his relative ring rust will not prove a decisive handicap. He said: "I am confident for this fight, I feel good, but I don't want to be over-confident as he has had a lot of fights.
"But now I've got that first fight out of the way I feel much more relaxed about everything. I like to take one step at a time and not get too carried away."
Cooper alone is likely to pack well over 300 fans into the Guildhall and believes that vast support will lift him.
"Last fight when I was put down in the fourth round it really inspired me," he said. "I looked at a few of them and it definitely encouraged me. I remember seeing my two kids and I nodded to them to let them know I was okay and not hurt and that helped."
Manager and trainer Jack Bishop still has high hopes for Cooper and added: "Danny always looks good in training and he is as fit and sharp as ever."
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