JAMES McGIRT Jr. W10 RAYMOND JOVAL

James McGirt Jr. did well to come back from a stoppage loss with such a convincing decision win over Raymond Joval on Friday Night Fights. It even looked as if McGirt was just a few punches away from a very surprising stoppage win when he had the veteran down twice in the third round.

McGirt looked strong as a middleweight after previously boxing at 168 pounds and he punched with good form from his southpaw stance.

Joval, 39, could never really get anything going but his fighting heart and late-rounds pressure gave McGirt some problems although, to me, the 14-years-younger man always had the fight under control.

I had cautioned in the preview that Joval was at an age where he could grow old in one fight, and he certainly looked an old fighter last Friday, missing and floundering, but McGirt deserves some credit for that. McGirt’s movement, quick punching and intelligent boxing was giving the much more experienced Joval all kinds of trouble.

The unanimous decision in McGirt’s favour was a formality, with scores of 99-91, 99-91 again and 97-91. (My TV impression was of a 98-90 winning score, boosted, of course, by the 10-7 round in the third.)

On paper this fight was a bit of a gamble for McGirt after he had been overpowered in the seventh round by Carlos De Leon Jr., but he had obviously worked very hard and he turned in the finest performance of his career, and I felt happy for him.