In his last outing Josh Jauncey faced Giorgio Petrosyan, the lightweight maestro routinely referred to as a 'Greatest of All Time' candidate by fight sport media across the planet. Jauncey lost a decision but put in a great performance and left the ring with his head held high.
This time he was to face fellow rising lightweight talent Anatoly Moiseev of Russia but a late switch meant Moiseev was bumped up to the main card tournament and Jauncey got local stand-in Johan Tkac, an experienced Muay Thai and kickboxing competitor.
The result was a show-stopping performance from Jauncey. The fight with Petrosyan surely gave his confidence a huge boost - not that Jauncey has ever lacked that quality anyway – and he came into this fight ready to pull out some special things from his bag of tricks.
Evasion and counter attacks were the story of this fight, something Petrosyan excels at and Jauncey perhaps influenced by having experienced it first hand. Some of Jauncey's movement was magical - side-stepping punches and coming back with perfectly-placed counter punches and knees before wheeling away out of danger.
Jauncey launched his right knee constantly, staying just on the right side of predictability, and did great work with it. At some point in the second round Tkac took the knee flush in the face and suffered a badly broken nose. His face was a mask of blood when he returned to his corner and they called the doctor in. The doctor took one look and waved the fight off, despite Tkac protesting that he wanted to continue.
“I was happy with the opponent, he's a good fighter,” Jauncey said afterwards, saluting Tkac's courage in stepping up to take the fight on less than five days' notice.
“I have always been slick, since I was kid. Now I am just more comfortable as a professional so... yeah, just more comfortable really,” he said with a smile.
And for his next opponent? “It may be a clichéd thing to say but I am ready anything. I am only 23, I have got a lot of time, patience is key. If I get another chance to get into a [lightweight contender] tournament later this year or next year, great, but I am in no rush.”
Josh Jauncey def. Johan Tkac, TKO, R2 (Doctor Stoppage)
