WILLY HUTCHINSON wasted no time in getting his professional boxing career off to a winning start on Friday evening and he revealed that former two-weight world champion, David Haye, called his performance “spectacular”.
19 year-old Hutchinson, from Carstairs, Lanark is Scotland’s most successful amateur boxer ever having won European Junior gold before claiming the World Amateur title last year, with his success in the amateur ranks catching Haye’s eye and convincing the Englishman to sign the teenager to his new Hayemaker Ringstar promotions company, which is Haye’s newest venture and is a collaboration with world-renowned promoter, Richard Schaefer.
In his pro debut, at Indigo in London’s O2 Arena, Hutchinson was on the undercard of the Joe Joyce-Ian Lewison fight and was up against Attila Tibor Nagy, a Hungarian who, in 39 fights, had recorded only 10 wins meaning that despite his inexperience, the Scot went in as favourite. It was though, tricky to predict quite how Hutchinson would perform as he had had been out of competitive action since he claimed his world amateur title almost a year ago and with such a lengthy lay-off, there is always the risk of ring-rust.
Hutchinson was in no mood to mess about though and from the first bell, the light heavyweight went on the attack, landing a number of heavy punches which it was clear to see were hurting Nagy. The Scot ultimately made light work of his opponent, with the fight lasting only 89 seconds. “It was really good – it was good to get back in the ring and it was great to get the job done,” the teenager told Herald Sport. “I felt great and I was happy with my performance, as were my whole team.”
Such was the speed of his win, Hutchinson barely broke sweat but there is no regret from the Scot about Nagy failing to push him any harder. “He maybe could have given me more of a test and the fight could have gone on for longer but he felt my power and he wanted nothing of it, that’s why he didn’t test me,” Hutchinson said. “Once he felt me, he didn’t know what to do and he just didn’t want it. I’m just pleased about getting my first fight out of the way, getting the win and now I can move on from here.”
There was, you would have assumed, little time in the 89 seconds of the fight to pinpoint any improvements that could be made but Hutchinson is keen to make sure that his next performance is even more accomplished. “I was itching to get into the fight on Friday and I really came out swinging ,” he said “When you’ve been out of the ring for a while, you just want to get in there and fight so next time, I’ll hopefully be able to relax and get another win.”
Hutchinson admits that the ringing endorsement he got from Haye, who has also predicted that the Scot “a is going to be one of the next sensations” is a huge confidence boost and the teenager will continue learning from the former world champion as he trains alongside him in his new training base in London.
Hutchinson has little time to relax in the aftermath of his debut win as he will be back in the ring in less than eight weeks' time, on the December 17 on the undercard of the David Haye-Tony Bellew fight. That is a rematch of the pair’s heavyweight clash which Bellew won in March after stopping Haye in the 11th round.
The fight will take place at London’s Wembley Arena and Hutchinson admits that he is delighted that he will not be hanging about before he is back into another tough training camp, led by the respected Cuban trainer, Ismael Salas who has guided a host of fighters including Danny Green, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Kazuto Ioka to world championship titles. “I’ll have this week off and then I’ll speak to my team and see when the training camp for the next fight starts,” Hutchinson said. “I’m very happy that I’m fighting again so soon – that’s very good for me and will allow me to keep the momentum going. And if I can keep my momentum going and continue learning from Ismael Salas then the world’s my oyster.”
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