By Jonny Stapleton

IRISH Olympian John Joe Nevin has the perfect motivation to be at his illusive best when he returns to the ExCel ring on Wednesday and its not just a place in the quarter final of the greatest sporting stage on earth.
Having defeated not so great Dane Dennis Villy Ceylan  21-6 yesterday, the Mullingar man was drawn against Kanat Abutalipov of Kazakhstan- and the Cavan BC bantamweight admits he is not looking forward to being on the end of the improved fighters punches.

Nevin beat the Kazak previously, but noted his pending opponents improvements and highlighted Abutalipov’s power as his key quality.
Speaking after yesterday‘s impressive win Nevin said

“He’s improved a lot since I last fought him. He hits hard, so I’m not looking forward to feeling his punches.But I’ve improved too. I’m a totally different boxer to the one that went to Beijing,” Nevin told the Independent.

Power isn’t a quality Nevin should fear too much in his opponents seen as he has is a master in the art of not getting hit. Indeed he didn’t ship a single scoring punch as he sailed through the second round of his opening contest.  The two time World championship medallist also has the advantage of what seems like a home crowd and he heap praise on those supporting him Saturday.
“The reaction of the crowd was amazing. I was really hurting him with body shots in the second round and the crowd seemed to be reacting to every one. It’s great to have a win on the board now. But this is only one fight. I’ve got to keep the head down and stay focused.”