IRISH OLYMPIAN DAVID Oliver Joyce will fight on the undercard of Carl Frampton’s feverishly anticipated crossroads bout with Nonito Donaire at Belfast’s SSE Arena on 21 April.
The popular Mullingar lightweight will first take to the ring at SK Promotions’ Collision Course bill at Dublin’s Citywest Hotel on 5 February before gearing up for a slot on what’s likely to be the biggest professional boxing bill ever to take place on these shores.
Joyce, 5-0(4KOs), has fought four times in Belfast as a pro, and holds three victories over Frampton as an amateur, with ‘The Jackal’ having bested him just once in the unpaid ranks.
The Rio Olympian has sparred two-weight world champion Frampton on countless occasions since the Tiger’s Bay featherweight turned professional in 2009, including in the lead-up to Frampton’s comeback bout with Horacio Garcia in November.
Future star Lewis Crocker will also feature on the bill in what will be a fifth professional contest for the nuclear-fisted hometown hero.
The recently-turned 21-year-old featured as one of The42′s three hottest Irish pro boxing prospects earlier this week, and counts Frampton as one of his greatest admirers.
After four fights since turning pro in 2017, welterweight Crocker is yet to see the third round as a professional and boasts three first-round stoppages from his four wins.
‘Croc’ is joined on the card by 6-0(2KOs) light-heavyweight Steven Ward, with whom he shares a hometown, as well as Derry featherweight Tyrone McCullagh, who’ll be heading up the A6 in search of his 10th professional victory. ‘White Chocolate’ already has six stoppages on his CV – most notably that of previously-unbeaten German Tom Tran, whom McCullagh took out inside five last month.
Joining the undefeated Irish contingent are three equally blemishless Brits, all of whom are MTK Global stablemates of Joyce, Crocker, Ward and McCullagh: Darlington middleweight Troy Williamson (5-0, 3KOs), Liverpudlian light-welterweight Sam Maxwell (5-0, 4KOs) and the latter’s fellow Merseysider Alex Dickinson (3-0, 2KOs) – a heavyweight – will all take to the squared circle in Belfast.
Three tantalising all-Irish contests – Luke Keeler vs Conrad Cummings, Jono Carroll vs Marco McCullough and Tyrone McKenna vs Phil Sutcliffe Jr – were last week confirmed for the same bill.
