Josh Jauncey's knee strikes are quickly becoming one of the most dangerous trademark strikes of any fighter on the GLORY roster.
The Canadian lightweight endured a hard first round against the power-punching Antonio Gomez, who trains at the MGM boxing gym in Marbella, Spain with some of Europe's top professional boxers.
Hands were always going to be Gomez's key threat and in the first round it looked like Jauncey (26-8, 15 KO's) was set on proving a point by going toe-to-toe and boxing with him. There was good work from both but Gomez (50-8-2, 29 KO's) likely edged things with higher output and more significant blows landed.
However, in pre-fight interviews Jauncey had talked about using kicks and knees to take the boxing-dominant Gomez out. In the second round he made good on his promise, starting the round with a head kick that staggered Gomez backwards.
Jauncey put the pressure on. Gomez fired back but Jauncey was waiting for it, launching a right high knee strike which met the incoming Gomez on the tip of his jaw. The shot rocked Gomez, rolling his eyes back.
The Spaniard managed to stay upright but suddenly found his chest sheeted in blood, the knee having opened an enormous gash underneath his chin. He fought on, but referee Paul Nicholls stepped in after some moments to call a doctor into the ring.
Blood was pouring from the cut at this point and the doctor took one look and then called the fight off, an unusual response to a cut which is not affecting a fighter's eyesight and one which demonstrates the severity of the laceration. The referee called an official end to the fight and Jauncey was declared the winner by TKO in his first GLORY outing of 2017.
