Olaniyan stays perfect with Croke Park knockout

JOBSTOWN’S Adam Olaniyan moved to 4-0 after an emphatic first round knockout win in Croke Park last weekend.

His opponent Matej Hudak was the first Olaniyan had come up against with a winning record but it made no difference to the Tallaght native who dispatched of the Czechian with ease.

Olaniyan put on an impressive display showing the speed and skill that have many putting him forward as a future Heavyweight contender.

Completely outclassing his opponent, Olaniyan left Hudak with a bloody nose and dropped him with a lightning combination in the final seconds of the first round.

Hudak did represent a step in quality for Olaniyan, albeit victory was still expected. Hudak came into the contest with a record of 6-2 with all six of his wins coming by way of knockout. Notably the losses were also by decision making the first round finish even more impressive.

The young fighter was happy with his performance after the fight.

“It was good, I knew he was going to be durable so I wanted to display what I’d been working on in the gym. My coach said it was a good performance, but I’m happy with it all. It all felt surreal, the last heavyweight to fight here was Muhammad Ali and I was able to take care of business the way I did and follow in his footsteps.”

“Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn working together and giving me this opportunity is amazing, I’m super grateful. It was pretty good, I’m happy and fighting in a stadium, like this puts pressure on a lot of people but I’m taking it as it comes.”

It remains to be seen what is next for Olaniyan though he has made a habit out of being active, making his debut in Spring of this year.

While people may be concerned about pushing fighters too soon, particularly when looking at the recent loss of 21 year old Moses Itauma, Olaniyan is showing that he technically has a skillset to compete at the highest level.

Expect big things soon from the young Dubliner and he will just keep building from here. There are a number of possible future matchups with the next generation of heavyweights.

One of which were present at ringside for Olaniyan’s fight with Brit Leo Atang. Others include the likes of Australia’s Teremoana Teremoana who is currently making a name for himself in the Heavyweight division.

Both fighters are currently undefeated with at least double the experience of Olaniyan, though the Dubliner finds himself consistently compared and linked, especially to Atang.

Notably Olainyan’s opponent in his second fight Viktar Chvarkou actually fought Atang earlier this year in Liverpool though the English heavyweight was unable to get the stoppage win after six rounds of action. Olaniyan on the other hand finished his opponent in the second.

Styles do make fights however and Olaniyan has not reached the top yet, this is just the beginning of a journey that may potentially take him to the very top of the Heavyweight boxing scene.