Darwen’s Mickey Ellison (4-1) secured his first career stoppage win on the undercard of the WBO world heavyweight title showdown between Joseph Parker (23-0) and Hughie Fury (20-0) 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 talked back through 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, and 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 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.
Ellison 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 all 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, he claims he wasn’t fazed, “I felt alright, didn’t feel nervous but then I didn’t have time to think about it because they brought my fight forward on the night so only had 13 minutes to warm up!
“I sold all my tickets so I had 150 fans in the crowd, they were all really loud, so I did well.
“It was good show, I watched quite a few of the other fights and there were some really good bouts on.”
Ellison plans to enjoy a short break before getting back to the gym and continuing the momentum that has seen him fight five times in 11-months.
“Gonna have a break, I’m off on holiday for a week with my family and then straight back in the gym again! 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, Ellison plans 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.”
For tickets to the next show please call 07487 753 398
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Mickey Ellison would like to thank his sponsors Winfields and Timbuktu and Agent Tim Rickson