THE onward march of David 'Dee' Walsh continued at The Devenish Complex on Saturday night as the Irish light-middleweight champion put on an exhibition of the sweet science to outpoint Polands Patryk Litkiewicz over eight dazzling rounds.
It was the longest Waldo has gone in his professional career, but he looked right at home as he controlled the pace from the opening bell and frustrated his opponent who barely landed a glove on him throughout.
Litkiewicz arrived in Belfast having been stopped just once in his career and on paper seemed a tricky test on this Dee Day card, but Walsh was on another level, with his movement utterly sublime.
Systematically breaking the Pole down from minute one, he limbo-danced out of trouble while landing with heavy, scoring shots as he picked his punches to perfection and put on a masterclass that was a joy to watch.
The 25 year-old certainly appears destined for big things and a British title shot ought to be around the corner for a man who passed this latest test with mesmerising ease and he was rightly delighted with his performance after.
Once I hit him to the head I knew. My reflexes were spot-on. I did fade a bit, but it just shows you I can do the eight rounds no problem, said the now 12-0 Walsh after.
I didnt want to start too fast. I wanted to put on a masterclass. I was watching Roy Jones all week and wanted to do that (replicate).
In my head I wanted to be like (Floyd) Mayweather, push him back- but Im happy with my performance. I surprised myself with how good my jab is.
Undoubtedly, this was the performance of the night and was appreciated by all, but the fight of the night came in the chief support as rising star, Paul Hyland Jnr ticked all the right boxes to stop Latvias Ivans Levickis in the fourth round of their lightweight battle.
Both men tore into each other from the opening bell, trading power shots and quickly it became apparent that something had to give. In the third that happened as Hyland sunk a left hook to the body that forced his opponent to take a knee.
While Levickis rose and survived the round, it was a psychological boost to Hyland who targeted the body in the fourth with real intent and dropped his opponent again with a similar shot. Once again the visitor rose but the end was nigh and another left to the torso had him down and out after 2.45 of the round.
I enjoyed that, he confirmed after.
I knew the body shots were working and thats what I expected. I have been working on defence and keeping my guard tight.
Elsewhere on the bill, Commonwealth Games silver medallist Joe Fitzpatrick began his pro career with the first round stoppage over Ignac Kassai.
Body shots forced the Hungarian down twice with a heavy flurry forcing a halt to the action after 1:22 of the bout.
It was a similar story for James Fryers with The Future taking just 1:31 to stop SergejsLogins, while James Tennyson was a third round victor against Krysztof Rogowski.
There were also 40-36 points wins earlier in the night for the impressive Gerard Healy against PitorTomaszek and Tyrone McKenna over Sylwester Walczak.
