Arthur Leonard "Rusty" Cook (20 April 1913 – 10 October 1991) was an Australian

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom *Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe eel, ...

. Cook won Australia's first ever Empire/Commonwealth Games boxing gold medal in the

1934 British Empire Games The 1934 British Empire Games were the second edition of what is now known as the Commonwealth Games, held in England, from 4–11 August 1934. The host city was London, with the main venue at Wembley Park, although the track cycling events wer ...

in London, after defeating Welshman Frank Taylor in the final of the Lightweight division. He competed in the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics ( German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad ( German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi- ...

in Berlin, but was eliminated in the second round of the welterweight class after losing his fight to the Finnish fighter

Sten Suvio Sten "Stepa" Suvio (born ''Schuschin'', 25 November 1911 – 19 October 1988) was a Finnish boxer who won the welterweight contest at the 1936 Summer Olympics. He then turned professional and by 1949 accumulated a record of 34 wins (15 knockou ...

, the eventual Gold Medallist. In July 1938 Cook announced he was going professional. He had 3 professional fights in Queensland for 3 wins before taking on the seasoned N.S.W fighter Alan Westbury in Brisbane on 27 January 1939 for the vacant Australian Welterweight title. However Westbury knocked Cook out in the 3rd Round to win the title. Cook had one further bout on 3 March 1939 against Bobby Arlene, recording a 12th Round KO victory. He had agreed to fight Ron McLachlan in May, but at the beginning of that month made the abrupt decision to retire from boxing at the age of 27 due to competing business interests.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Leonard 1913 births 1991 deaths Lightweight boxers Welterweight boxers Olympic boxers for Australia Boxers at the 1936 Summer Olympics Australian male boxers Boxers at the 1934 British Empire Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games medallists in boxing 20th-century Australian people Medallists at the 1934 British Empire Games Sportsmen from New South Wales