– Niall Kelly reports from Riocentro, Rio de Janeiro
THERE WERE DAYS and nights when David Oliver Joyce thought this moment would never come.
Nine years is an awful long time to wait, an awful lot of disappointment to stomach.
That’s how long the St Michael’s Athy man has waited to hear his name called, to walk into an Olympic ring and, most importantly, to have his hand raised in victory.
Twice he was denied by dubious decision-making in Olympic qualifiers. Missing out on Beijing only strengthened his resolve; when it happened again and robbed him of his place in London four years ago, it very nearly caused him to pack it all in and walk away from the sport.
“Are they going to steal it from me again?” he wondered — understandably — as he waited for the judges’ decision at the European Qualifiers in Turkey earlier this year.
And so, when his name was finally called shortly after 5.30pm local time, he carried plenty of baggage with him on that short walk to the ring.
Not once over the course of three composed and confident rounds did he let it show.
From the opening bell he took control against Andrique Allisop of the Seychelles. By the end, his relentless pressure had his wearied opponent out on his feet.
“It’s been a long time coming to step into that ring and perform to my best,” Joyce reflected afterwards.
“Today I thought I performed decent enough. I’ll have to step it up for the next time but we’ll just celebrate this now.
“The first one is always the toughest one. Making your debut is always the toughest part of an Olympic Games. Today we got everything to a tee and it worked out perfectly for me.
It’s been nine years, focusing on this for nine years. In the last couple of days the nerves have started to kick in when you find out the draw, who you’re meeting and things.
“But that’s good because you focus on your opponent a lot more and put your head down and drive on.”
If there are any celebrations, you can be sure they won’t last long. Up next, in Tuesday’s last 16, is one of the most dangerous men in lightweight boxing.
2007 world champion Albert Selimov may have turned 30 earlier this year, making him a year Joyce’s senior, but the division’s second seed still has a reputation which precedes him.
Gold at the inaugural European Games and silver at the world championships last year certainly don’t seem like indicators of a man who is slowing down.
Beat him and Joyce might rightly believe that there is nobody else to concern him in the competition, with the exception of top seed Lazaro Alvarez of Cuba who is safely housed on the opposite side of the draw for now.
“I’m not worried about it today,” Joyce said.
“We’ll focus on my win, celebrate that, and cool down. Tomorrow I’ll focus on him.
I will know what to expect. I sparred him in camp in Azerbaijan a couple of weeks ago so he’ll know what I am going to bring to the game.
“It’s going to be a tough one.”
As far as Joyce is concerned, most things over the last nine years have been tough ones. Now that he’s here, nobody — Selimov or otherwise — is going to end this dream without a fight.
“We’re all here to go right here to the very end,” he said. “No matter who we meet along the way we’re going to push them aside and go forward.”
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