JOE JOYCE made short work of Ivica Bacurin at York Hall on Friday night. He stopped the Croatian inside the first round. Bacurin did come in at short notice but it still took Dillian Whyte six rounds to knock him out. Bacurin went two rounds with former title challenger Carlos Takam. Those are world level heavyweights and this was only Joyce’s fifth professional contest.
“Massive satisfaction, it just puts into perspective how good I am and all the training and hard word is paying off,” Joyce, an Olympic silver medallist, told Boxing News afterwards.
“It was good. A short night’s work, managed to get my flow on. Landed some crisp jabs, had a move around, had a look and managed to clip him a good few shots. He tried to duck, I caught him and that’s it.”
The finish came at just 1-54 of the first round.
“Maybe he was looking for a way out, I don’t know. I think he hit me with a few shots, glancing blows, maybe one good one. But then he was on the back foot running,” Joe continued.
“I think he crumbled under the pressure.”
Joyce, already the Commonwealth heavyweight champion, expects to box next in September.
