HIS professional debut may have come very much in Charlie Flynn's golden shadow but such was the ferocity of his one minute four second destruction of the hapless Georgian David Kvaratskhelia, that Joe Ham has served notice he may well become a regular show stealer.
The 23-year-old admitted that he had been delighted to fly under the radar in the build-up to his professional debut on on a card dominated by Flynn, his former Commonwealth Games team-mate.
But after his stunning debut, Ham admitted he was also delighted to finally exorcise the demons of his painful single point quarter-final defeat at the Glasgow games.
"Obviously, Charlie has been the one in the limelight and rightly so, as he won the gold medal, but that has allowed me to fly in under the radar," admitted Ham.
He continued: "Losing in the quarters at the Commy Games was a big disappointment but I knew before them that the time was right for me to turn pro and Sunday night has been a long time coming from the point of view that I have been so hungry to get rid of all of my frustration and get going again.
"But it was great to be making my pro debut on the same bill as Charlie made his. We have come through so much in the Amateurs together and been team-mates with Scotland and now we are both pros and Sunday will be a night I will never forget."
In a throwback performance of swarming aggression against his startled Eastern European opponent, Ham's belief that his style would translate perfectly into the pro ranks was vindicated.
Ham has been suitably emboldened by the rewards gleaned from his approach.
"I have always been confident that my style would suit the pros and I think my debut proved that point.
"I think I stopped about 30 boxers from the 130 bouts I had as an Amateur and although a lot of these came early in my Amateur career, they mainly came from the body attack.
"My view is that if you have the power to hurt someone and get him out early then what is the point in hanging around?
"I really want to give the fans something to get excited about and you saw from the way they reacted to my work that I can do that."
Ham also revealed that the eight ounce gloves used in the professional game will only help him add more bite to his punches.
He said: "[It] is a massive plus for someone like me who likes to load up. In the Amateurs the gloves are 10 ounces and there is so much padding that it takes away some of your power but on Sunday I felt I was really digging my shots home."
Something a certain Georgian would surely agree with.
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