Last night, at the 02 Arena in London, Joe Joyce got his professional career off to a win.
Joyce, a late addition to the professional ranks, at the age of thirty-two, was matched against the capable Brixton fighter Ian Lewison.
Joyce had a commendable amateur career culminating in a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the super-heavyweight division.
In his first professional fight, Joyce managed to stop Lewison in the eighth round.
The end of the fight came when Lewison slipped to the canvas and his corner threw the towel in.
Lewison had started the fight brightly but a swelling to his eye saw some of that early work negated as Joyce took control of the fight.
After the fight, his promoter, David Haye, had this to say about his charge,
‘Joe’s got stuff to work with; he got caught with some big right hooks.
‘He was a little bit reckless in the first couple of rounds and I was a little worried early when he was mixing it unnecessarily but I know he’s got a good chin.’
A decent win for Joyce in his first fight but is his age against him?
Heavyweight Joyce Wins Pro-Debut
