Darwen’s Mickey Ellison (4-1) secured his first career stoppage victory on the undercard of the WBO world heavyweight title showdown between Joseph Parker (24-0) and Hughie Fury (20-1) at the Manchester Arena on September 23rd.
His 31-year-old opponent, Andy Neylon (2-22-1), was forced to retire at end of the second round after sustaining a broken nose, courtesy of an Ellison right hand.
Managed by Steve Wood and trained by former pro Alex Matvienko, 27-year-old Ellison reviewed his fifth professional bout, “I started a bit slow, at first, but then I started landing jabs and I caught him with a couple of right-hands to the body, then hurt him with a right-straight to the body late on in the first round.
“For the big punch that finished the fight, I feinted high then threw a right-hook to the body, followed by a big right-hand to the head.”
The Lancashire light-heavyweight was one of six stoppage wins recorded on the 13-fight Hennessey Sports card, streamed live on YouTube.
The former North West amateur champion has accredited the powerful performance to plenty of hard work and development in the Elite Gym in Bolton with trainer Matvienko.
“Everything I did in my fight, I’ve been learning in the gym,” he enthused. “Just been working on setting up the shots with Alex by touching to the body to set up the big right.
“Leading up to this fight I felt a lot looser and dead strong. I had some good sparring with Callum Smith, Rocky Fielding and Martin Murray.
“I’ve been learning loads with those guys. It’s been perfect because Callum had [Erik] Skoglund on the week before my fight and Martin [Murray] was on the same bill – he looked strong – and Rocky [Fielding] is boxing David Brophy at the end of the month, so it was perfect timing for us all.”
Ellison has previously appeared on VIP Promotion shows, his last outing was at the iconic Winter Gardens in Blackpool in July.
Despite fighting in front of the cameras for the first time on a bigger stage at the Manchester Arena, he claims he wasn’t fazed by the occasion at all, “I felt alright, didn’t feel nervous but then I didn’t have time to think about it because they brought my fight forward so only had 13 minutes to warm up!
“I sold all my tickets so I had 150 fans in the crowd and they were all really loud. The support was great and it was a good show. I watched quite a few of the other fights that were on and there were some really good bouts.”
Ellison plans to enjoy a short break before getting back in the gym to continue the momentum that has seen him fight five times in 11-months.
The busy boxer said, “Gonna have a break, I’m off on holiday for a week with my family and then straight back in the gym again because Steve Wood has got a show in December which I want to get on.”
After five pro bouts and a full year in the paid ranks, the trimmer prospect plans to drop down a weight class to campaign in the super-middleweight division in 2018.
“I just want to carry on fighting regularly and I aim to move down to 168lbs,” he confirmed. “I want at least six fights next year and hopefully get a shot at the Central Area title by the end of the year.”
He added, “With all those fights in my plans, I will need sponsors to help fund the training camps. I’m already appearing on big heavyweight world title shows in just my fifth fight and it can only get bigger and better! I hope local companies can get behind me.”
