Olympic gold champion Galal Yafai wins professional debut in style with knockout on Lawrence Okolie’s undercard
TEAM GB Olympic golden boy Galal Yafai leaped into the professional ranks with a ruthless fifth-round stoppage of tough Mexican Carlos Bautista.
Seven months after grabbing flyweight gold at the delayed Tokyo games, Yafai, 29, refused the traditional four or six round intro and signed up for a 10-rounder against a live opponent.
And he took to the paid game like a duck to water, hunting big shots and landing them on Bautista’s ribs and face until his corner saved him after five one-sided rounds.
Yafai said: “I enjoyed it in there, he was a tough opponent, I caught him with big shots and he wouldn’t go.
“I have waited so long to make my pro debut and it was everything I hoped and dreamed of.
“I want to move at a fast pace, I want to be stepped up and become a world champion.”
There were whipped hooks to the body and arrow-like straights that sliced through the visitor’s guard in the opener.
Yafai had his whisker checked in the second when Bautista landed a left hook but he passed the test and retaliated generously.
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The 8st division is hardly known for its knockouts but Yafai was precise and punishing, battering Bautista at the end of the round and coming close to ending it early.
The Birmingham ace was clipped again at the start of the three but absorbed the blows and fired back, smiling as he inflicted the assaults.
The right side of Bautista’s face was a horrible mess before the third even ended as his cheek swelled up into his eye.
And when brave Bautista was floored in the fifth, even though he beat the count, his team threw in the towel and compassionate Yafai informed ref Mark Lyson of the surrender.
And the youngest of three fighting brothers will waste no time setting up his next bout as he aims to be a world champion inside his first 10 pro bouts.
