Hayden records devastating KO on TV debut to go 3-0

WILLIAM Hayden executed a devastating knockout of England’s Michael Walton on his television debut to move to 3-0 as a professional boxer.

The 20-year-old from Bohernabreena was fighting on the Queensberry Promotions card at York Hall in London on Friday night, which was headlined by the Marc Leach-Chris Bourke British Super Bantamweight title showdown.

Hayden came out firing from the bell, rattling off a high volume of well-placed shots to put Walton in trouble and ultimately drop him in the first round.

After putting Walton down, the Crumlin Boxing Club man could smell blood and, in the second round, landed a nice combination before circling back, going to the body and then unloading a devastating series of hooks to record his first professional stoppage.

“This was my first time going into a fight at 100 percent,” Hayden told The Echo.

“I had problems going into the first two, but there was absolutely nothing holding me back for this one, I knew I was going in there to let my hands go.

“I could see it at the weigh-in that [Walton] was intimidated because I was a different level to what he’d ever faced before.

“I never had the chance to let the hands go and fight at a high pace.

“I thought the fact that it was on the telly would be playing in my head, but once I stepped into the ring, it was just me, him and the referee – it was go-time.

“When I stepped into the ring, I just knew then, I could see it in his eyes that he didn’t want to be there and was in there for the payday.

“The first time I dropped him, he was reluctant getting back up.

“I knew he was gone then, but I was a little bit eager trying to get him out of there in the second and I muddled up my work a bit because of it – that’s how I got that scrape, in a head-butt.

“But that was it, my first knockout, he took a knee.”

The emphatic victory sees Hayden move to 3-0 since turning professional in 2021, having recorded victories over Dean Jones and Lee Connolly in his first two fights.