Davey Oliver Joyce confirms boxing retirement
Mullingar super bantamweight Davey Oliver Joyce has confirmed his retirement from professional boxing.
The 35-year-old last fought in September 2020 and has long been understood to have been out of the game but officially announced the conclusion of his career inside the ropes today.
The Rio Olympian will continue in the sport in a coaching role, leading new club Punisher’s Mullingar.
Hi guys. People keep asking me on social media when am I going to make a return to the ring. I’m now retired from boxing an enjoying life on the other side of the ring with my wife and kids. I had a great career and I left no stone unturned. Now I’m enjoying life. #family ❤👍 pic.twitter.com/j76YFt4HZE
— Davey Oliver Joyce (@daveyoliver101) August 23, 2022
An outstanding amateur, Joyce won six Irish Elite titles across three weights during an insanely competitive era. Internationally, among other honours, he won three EU Championships gold medals as well as excelling in the World Series of Boxing and AIBA Pro Boxing.
The names that the St Michael’s Athy southpaw defeated in the vest include the likes of Carl Frampton, Robson Conceicao, Liam Walsh, Luke Campbell, Eric Donovan, Sean McComb, Ross Hickey, Azat Hovhannisyan, Khedafi Djelkhir, Joe Murray, Dennis Ceylan, Domenico Valentino, Martin J Ward, Sofiane Oumiha, and Gary Cully while he also famously faced the great Vasyl Lomachenko – the only Irish boxer to do so competitively.
Most memorably, however, was Joyce’s run to the 2016 Rio Olympics – finally making it to the biggest show on Earth after so many disappointments and near misses. In Brazil he would win one fight before being eliminated by the great Albert Selimov.
Always seen as being suited to the pros, the Westmeath man made the late move across in 2017, linking up with the now-defunct MTK Global with whom he compiled a 12(9)-2(2) record.
After cutting through early opposition, Joyce dominated Scot Stephen Tiffney in Dubai to win a WBO ranking belt and subsequently entered the Golden Contract, losing to future world champion Leigh Wood. ‘The Punisher’ rebounded by dominating former titlist Lee Haskins in 2020 to win another rankings belt before being stopped early by Romanian bogeyman Ionut Baluta.
Irish-Boxing.com would like to wish Davey all the best in retirement and thank him for all the entertainment over the years.
