Brighton heavyweight boxer Tommy Welch was happy with his performance in his win over Gyorgy Kutasi on Saturday night in Belgium.
The 26-year-old beat the experienced Hungarian by TKO within two rounds in Brussels in their four rounds bout.
Welch had been drafted in at the last minute but was impressed with his display, however he admits he had to get used to a rather small ring.
He told The Argus: “I thought my performance was good.
“It was a last-minute fight to get me and my team on a plane over to Belgium, but we spoke to the promoter and got over there.
“I had been ticking over in the gym and luckily my last fight was not too long ago so I felt good going into the fight.
“They gave me an opponent who was a lot more experienced than me.
“But for me, it was all about dealing with different pressures than fighting in front of a home crowd.
“It was boiling hot in Belgium, so it was all about dealing with other things rather than the crowd like the size of the ring as it was rather small, etc rather than fighting in front of a home crowd.
“But I was really happy with my performance and was glad to reach 3-0.”
Welch’s performances caught the eye of former WBO and heavyweight championship Shannon Briggs.
The American, whose nickname is ‘The Cannon’ used to spar with Welch’s dad and his coach, Scott during his professional career.
Briggs posted a video on his Instagram page on Sunday showing Welch rampaging on Kutasi during the fight on Saturday night, landing a big right uppercut, followed by a left hook to the head and hurtful body shot, a left jab then a booming right hand and left uppercut dropped him for a count.
The end came moments later (that was not shown in the video clip) with Welch landing another huge right uppercut and left hook with the referee jumping in and waving it off to stop any more punishment.
He also put the accompanying post with the video of Welch: “Keep an eye on him. They are tough men. I used to have spar-wars with his pops back in 93-94.
“He’s tough just like his daddy.
“They are vicious, they wanna leave you in a pool of blood and piss. He means business! Look at him!! #It’sTheChamp @tommywelchboxing”
On his way to the ring Welch wears a joker mask, who is one of the villains in the Batman films (pictured above).
But Welch revealed the reasons behind wearing the mask.
He said: “I love the film, it is kind of sad the way that a man with mental health issues does not get offered any help.
“I have been lucky to live a luxurious lifestyle, but I have fallen off the wagon before and it was thanks to the sport of Boxing that I got on the right track.
“You also have your low moments in your career and boxing has taught me that at times you have to bite your teeth and keep fighting.
“So I can relate to him in a way.
“I would love to be an ambassador for mental health one day.
“I wear the joker mask to help raise awareness of mental health and with it having been mental health week recently, there is no better time to talk about mental health.
“As when you look at the figures 84 people commit suicide a week and 56% of those are men.
“I think as men we struggle to open up and we are taught to be tough and stay strong, but it does not make you any less of a man to open up and tell people how you are feeling.
“My dad is an ambassador for the WBC and wants to give back to boxing after his career.
“For me, my number one focus is boxing, but number two would be helping with mental health and being an ambassador for mental health.”
Welch also revealed that he hoping to fight every month for the next three months as he aims to reach 10-0 before the end of the year.
He said: “I have had a couple of fights in the last 6-8 weeks and I planning to have a fight next month, we are just waiting for confirmation.
“I have a fight booked for August and September.
“I want to keep busy, and my aim is to reach 10-0 by the end of this year.”
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