Joe Joyce drops Iago Kiladze three times in US debut
The 2016 super-heavyweight Olympic silver medallist Joe Joyce (6-0) fought in the United States for the first time beating former WBA Inter-Continental ruiserweight champion Iago Kiladze (26-4) in five rounds.
The unbeaten Londoner dropped the Georgian three times to move up to 6-0.
'The Juggernaught' is now being trained by veteran coach Abel Sanchez and signed a managerial deal with Al Haymon of Premier Boxing Champions.
Joyce was much larger than Kiladze, who spent much of his career at cruiserweight. The 33-year-old from Putney was walking him down in the opener, while the Californian resident was moving away, doing his best to avoid trouble.
In the second segment, Kiladze was on his toes again, but was caught and decked hard in the first thirty seconds, nearly going through the ropes, when a right hand landed on his chin followed by a left hook. He got up on unsteady legs and barely survived the round.
During the third, a combination of punches to the head and body sent Kiladze down for a second time, but the 30-fight veteran made it up again and starting swinging wildly to fight fire with fire, and it worked. The pair went to war thereafter.
Joyce applied a lot of pressure in the fourth, as he sensed the finish, and Kiladze once again was swinging away to fight his way out of trouble.
At the start of the fifth, Kiladze was again floored with a big left hand. The 32-year-old warrior got to his feet, but didn't want any more as the contest was waved off by referee Jerry Cantu.