Ward spills blood taming ‘French Revolution’

Joe Ward registered the best win of his relatively young pro career in Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

Just hours after fellow amateur standout Michael Conlan had set up a huge 2023 with victory a stoppage win over Karim Guerfi in Belfast , Ward was having his hand raised in New York.

‘Mighty Joe’ may not yet be on the verge of a world title shot like his former High-Performance teammate but his win over Frederic Julan should set up a breakout year next year.

Julan didn’t just provide passage to bigger bouts, the French light heavy gave the Moate BC graduate the kind of fight that will prepare him for stiffer tests.

Fredic was aggressive throughout on the Teofimo Lopez-Sandor Martin undercard and made the Irish star work for his unanimous points win.

Ward also had to deal with a cut for more than four rounds to secure a 79-73, 79-73, 78-74 win.

Congrats to Joe Ward on his UD over Fredric Julan here at @TheGarden tonight 🥊 pic.twitter.com/CYt2zAxyqM

— Lou DiBella (@loudibella) December 11, 2022

The massively decorated amateur has now won eight straight fights since he suffered a knee injury and lost his pro debut to Marco Delgado by second-round technical knockout in October 2019 at Madison Square Garden.

Ward’s supreme skill allowed him to dominate the majority of the fight, although ‘The French Revolution’ did have enough about to keep the Lou DiBella man honest.

Indeed, Julan opened a cut over Ward’s eye in the fourth and chin-checked him sporadically through the fight, he also made sure the Jimmy Payne trained fighter had to work to the final bell, going all out in a bid to secure a dramatic win in the eight.

One of Ireland’s greatest ever amateurs now moves to 8-1 with four knockouts.