Joyce's Stops Lewinson On Pro Debut
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By Jack Figg: Joe Joyce stopped a resilient Ian Lewison (12-3-1)in the eighth round of his professional debut
Joyce, the former Olympic silver medalist, began his journey in the paid ranks by taking on former Southern Area champion Ian Lewison in what was considered a bold move by many.
Joyce, however, came into the fight with five rounds experience as he previously competed in the World Series of Boxing representing the British Lionhearts. The bout was scheduled for ten however it only took Joyce eight rounds to put a stop to a brave Lewison.
Lewison had Joyce under vague pressure early on forcing him on the back foot fighting off the ropes however the former European gold medalist seemed in no trouble and soon began to land with jabs and lead hooks.
In the fourth Lewison seemed to have rolled an ankle and this evidently caused the Brit trouble as he struggled to put any real pressure on Joyce. Despite Lewison having glimpses of success it was a fairly one sided showing from the pre fight favourite Joyce.
By the eighth round Joyce was firmly in control and with Lewison now carrying an eye injury the fight was called to a stop with Lewison’s corner throwing in the towel.
Joyce who turned professional relatively late at age 32 wasted no time in proving he can compete with well established domestic level fighters. Currently being promoted by David Haye the future seems bright for the well acomplished amatuer in a very competative and thriving Heavyweight division.
Earlier on in the night Michael Venom page secured a third round knockout of Jonathan Castano (2-11-1) in his first professional boxing contest after his transition from MMA and also a first professional win for Scottish amateur star Willy Hutchison who won via first round knockout against Hungarian Attila Tibor Nagy.
Michael Page Win
MVP’ was making his debut inside the boxing ring after successful spells in kickboxing and more recently in MMA where he has made a name for himself with his flashy and unorthodox fighting style.
Coming into the bout Page told fans: “I am equally as confident here (as a boxer) as I am in MMA”.
Page started the fight full of confidence and flair adopting an unconventional guard with both his hands low to the ground choosing to whip his shots in from his awkward angles. Page found early success in round one with his unconventional style as Castano was struggling to mount any sort of offense whilst Page was beginning to land at will with jabs and lead rights.
As the bout went into the second round MVP was throwing more uppercuts and lead right hands choosing to neglect his jab that had troubled Castano previously. However Castano was not to be taken lightly and despite not putting any real pressure on Page, the ‘Bellator’ star was finding it difficult to finish his man.
The beginning of round three saw Venom Page use his jab more to control range walk down Castano. Before long a stunning lead right hand flattened his Spanish opponent and despite making the count the fight was waved off.
MVP told tv broadcaster Dave: “I loved every minute...I felt absolutely amazing.”
“Thats a good tester for me to see where I wanna go with it, it depends on the person as well. That kind of pace i’m more in control because he was a bit defensive”.
Promoter David Haye said: “It was perfect. He went out and established his jab and threw some crazy punches from crazy angles”.
“That’s what you get, when Michael Venom Page steps into an arena you get entertainment. From the first moment that bell rang to the moment the referee stopped the fight it was pure entertainment. And that’s what we need in boxing”.
IBO Super-Middleweight champion, Chris Eubank, also weighed in on the MVP’s debut telling Dave he thought his performance was: “Unique, interesting and marmite like myself, some people are going to love it some people are gonna absolutely hate it”
Eubank also touched on Page’s awkward style saying: Anything unorthodox is dangerous because it’s hard to prepare for, fighters don’t fight like that, you can’t find sparring like that”.
“But at the same time it’s extremely open, hands down all the time, your chin is up in the air and you can get caught”.
Finally promoter David Haye discussed the plan moving forward telling Dave he is going to compete in both MMA and Boxing going forward.
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