Storey writes new chapter after registering debut win

Frankie Storey lands a shot on his pro debut at the weekend - pic: Richard Owen (Don't Pose Photography)

Luton boxer Frankie Storey sealed his first win in the professional ranks as he overcame Stanislav Bilohurov at the Watford Leisure Centre on Saturday.

With over 500 fans in attendance, southpaw Storey was up against a Ukranian opponent who came into the bout with three defeats and a draw from his four previous bouts.

The fight was in danger of being over before it started when a head clash caused a cut above the left eye of Storey just 30 seconds in.

There were fiery exchanges with the PUG Gym fighter shading the first round trying to land that big left hand on Bilohurov who sensibly kept out of the way.

After some excellent cut work in the corner, Storey let his hands go in the second and followed a beautiful cross with a screwshot that bamboozled the Ukranian who retreated to safety.

Once the Luton fighter established the jab, his opponent began to look one dimensional and was unable to avoid two crushing straight lefts down the pipe.

Storey then let go a huge combination that floored Bilohurov who managed to beat the count.

Luton boxer Frankie Storey - pic: Richard Owen (Don't Pose Photography)

It was a war of attrition at times and certainly not the introduction many debutants face when entering the paid ranks.

Bilohurov showed his durability to ward off the enhancing Storey and despite taking some heavy shots saw it through to the final bell, where the Lutonian had his hand raised.

A euphoric Storey said: “He was really game which is exactly what I wanted for my first fight.

“I didn’t want a walkover and he told me he had quite a few amateur fights in Ukraine so it was a quality opponent.

“The cut happened in the first 30 seconds and for a while I thought he was cut, until I felt the blood flowing. I hustled it out and I was hoping to get the stoppage.”

On the atmosphere, Storey added: “There’s a lot of people here so I thought let’s make a show of it.

“I came out to ‘Hey Baby’ as my grandad loved that song and it always gets the crowd going.

“I’m so grateful to all my family, all the people from Luton and Cardinal Newman, we’ve even had people over from Dublin supporting.”

“I’m sure my mum is looking down on me saying ‘that’s my boy, my boy did it.’”