David Oliver Joyce off to winning start

David Oliver Joyce’s Olympic dream was fulfilled last night in Rio when he stepped into the Olympic ring finally, at the eighth time of asking, at the age of 29, and dumped his opponent Adrique Allisop from the Seychelles out of the competition on a unanimous points decision.

“It’s been a long time coming. The last couple of days I have really begun to focus on being in the Olympics. I’m enjoying it,” he said.

Joyce, a lightweight from Athy, had tried to qualify for the 2008 Olympics in three tournaments but fell short. Again in 2012 he failed in three qualifying tournaments for London but this year at the second attempt this year he qualified for Rio.

His Olympic debut was a testing encounter. Allisop was a tough customer, happy to trade blows close in. Two judges gave Joyce every round the other two rounds to one.

Joyce caught Allisop with a stray elbow and the referee warned Joyce to keep his head higher but an angry Allisop’s assertion that it was an elbow was confirmed by replays.

“It got a bit messy in parts and give him credit he got in a few blows on me,” said Joyce.

Joyce’s next fight tomorrow will be against Azerbajan’s Albert Selimov, the second seed and former world champion featherweight.

“Tonight I’ll enjoy this win and tomorrow I’ll start focusing on the next one. It’s going to be a tough one,” said Joyce.