Davey Oliver Joyce keen to move up into title mix soon
David Oliver Joyce [2(2)-0], as most would have expected, is settling into the pro ranks perfectly.
The experienced Rio Olympian was always earmarked as one for the professional game, and has proven these predictions right thus far.
Joyce has looked impressive in stopping Gabor Kovacs and Lesther Cantillano so far, and the 30 year old has fight number three this weekend.
Mullingar lightweight Joyce boxes on the Ginley Promotions ‘Danger at The Devenish’ card on Saturday night in Belfast as he rapidly nears the end of his pro apprenticeship.
Joyce feels he has adjusted well to the paid game under coach Pete Taylor in Bray.
The St Michael’s Athy gradate told Irish-Boxing.com that “I’m enjoying it, I’m enjoying my training, and I think my boxing’s come on a lot.”
“It’s a new game. The amateur game was a sprint, you’ve got to get in there fast, out fast, whereas this game suits me to the ground – I’ve done it in the WSB [World Series of Boxing] and the APB [AIBA Pro Boxing].”
“I’ve known Pete since I was a kid on the Irish team and he was there with Katie. We gel well together in the gym and outside of the gym.”
“He’s picked up a few minor little things I was doing wrong and we’ve corrected them. It’s made a big difference in my career now as a professional, working on things I never worked on in the amateur game.”
Joyce, who has competed in eight-round fights in the APB variant of the game, wants to be moved quickly.
Saturday will be his third fight in three months, and he already has a fourth lined up. Now the Westmeath man is keen to move up through the rounds.
Joyce outlined how “we spoke at the start, me and MTK, and I told them I want to be busy, for the first year until I get the bigger fights.”
“I could go and do a ten rounder now! It’s just MTK want to move me on the right track at the right time, I wanted an eight rounder here but this is what MTK could get for me.”
“I’m hoping for a six or an eight on the next one on October 21st. I want to get the eight rounders in because then I can fight for these titles and get ranked up.”
As he mentions, the slot on the Burnett-Zhakiyanov undercard at the SSE Odyssey Arena looms, but Joyce is far too experienced to be distracted by the bright lights.
The triple EU gold medalist described how “people have been saying to me ‘oh, you’ve got a big card on the 21st,’ but what I do is I just focus on one guy at a time.”
“It’s like in the amateur game when you box in the Senior Championships – if you think about the finals, you forget about the semi finals and the quarters, and then you end up losing it.”
“I’m putting all of my focus on Saturday night. One fight at a time, I’ve always been to told that.”
On Saturday night Joyce faces reigning Slovakian light welterweight champion Ivan Godor [20(6)-45(8)-4]. Fans may recall ‘The Little Dragon’ as the man against whom Ray Moylette debuted in March. Since then he has fought six times, and grabbed an upset win against MTK prospect Thomas Dickson in June.
‘The Punisher’ is expected a good fight from Godor and reasoned that “he’s a really tough journeyguy, he hasn’t been stopped that many times.”
“It might go the six rounds. The last two guys I have fought have been stoppages, so my record has been going good – we’ll see how we get on with this guy.”
Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)
