London-born Cypriot Chris Evangelou delighted his vast support at Bethnal Green's York Hall on Friday night with a slick and superior performance on his professional debut. Winning comfortably on points over the four round distance, Evangelou showed superb movement and electrifying speed to outclass Nuneaton's Kristian Laight.
Entering the ring to an enormous reception, Evangelou wasted little time in displaying the skills and handspeed that more than justify the nickname 'The Flash'. Jumping in and out of range with the left hook and lead right hand early on, the debutant was always in control. As were his fans, with chants of "Chris, Chris, Chris" ringing out around the buzzing hall.
Indeed, the support for the 23 year-old was astonishing. On a night popular Essex-based Pole Albert Sosnowski fought for the European heavyweight title and Carl Dilks challenged for the Commonwealth super-middleweight strap, it was Evangelou, on his debut, who pulled in the crowd. Prior to the fight, the 'Flash' told me he'd sold some 400 tickets, though on the night it seemed like a lot more, the Cypriot's support dwarfing that of any other fighter.
It isn't hard to see why the charismatic light-welterweight is such a ticket seller. He's fast. Seriously fast. Firing in flurries of punches to the body and head before darting out of range, Evangelou is great to watch. He'll get better too. His opponent Laight has the sort of losing record you'd expect of a debut match-up but he was also a southpaw with a cagey defense, not ideal for a fast counter-puncher like Evangelou, and it is to his credit that he managed to impress and excite the crowd as much as he did.
Speaking to BoxRec News after the fight, Evangelou said "It was the most amazing experience of my life. I can't believe the reception I received. 400 fans, it was amazing, the best feeling in the world.
"The first few rounds I felt really strong and confident. I think I could have stepped it up a bit more, usually I do towards the last two rounds but I thought be clever, don't listen to the crowd, box my fight, listen to my Dad in the corner, John Rooney and Ben Day, who are amazing by the way for being in my corner, I listened to them, they said 'you're winning the fight clearly, don't do anything stupid, don't take any shots', and I did that - I wanted to show my defence and movement.
"The publicity we had for this fight was phenomenal.I've been in magazines, BoxRec, Sky Sports, I've been getting calls from everywhere, this has gone over to Cyprus too, so the whole of Cyprus is going to be watching this! It's been amazing."
An excellent start then from the former Cyprus International and another fantastic addition to an already bustling light-welterweight division. It's early days of course and Evangelou needs to fight regularly next year, but if he can start to establish his jab more to open up fighters in addition to his fast counter-punching skills then whilst he might not have the same amateur credentials as Frankie Gavin or Amir Khan, his style, support, and the interest from world-class trainers like Freddie Roach, suggests he can be a big player in the division.
