Pound for Pound Palace duo secure victories in first professional outing

Mitchell Woollard and Gracjan Bak both made history in October as they both won their professional debuts.

The Palace pair featured on a card at the O2 academy in Bournemouth, as a part of Steve Bendall’s show. This was a milestone night which saw the due become the first Palace representatives to turn pro.

Both fighters were supported by Pound for Pound owner Steve Barnes and head coach Gennady Gordienko. The duo highlighted the importance of the support as Woollard said “They were so important to me, and kept me so relaxed, Steve threw my shirt in the crowd, and I think Ashley got it”. With the same question Bak said “Everyone involved is like my family, I have to treat my coach like my father, this (Pound for Pound Palace) is my second home”.

In the build up to the fight on the night, Woollard said this “There was just a whole buzz from the start of the night, the excited definitely took over the nervous energy”. While Bak said this “I’ve been waiting a long time for this, I was so excited and the whole experience was just amazing”.

Bak fought first on the night coming up against Plymouth’s Chris Adaway who was competing in his 90th bout and had a record of 10-76-4.

Despite the careful start Bak picked up the rhythm and put on the pressure as Adaway was adamant on backing off the entire fight.

Bak said this about his opponent “He was very cheeky, he was running away which I didn’t expect, I expected him to be more upfront and hit me more”.

The pressure continued as Bak hit powerful shots to the body and head of Adaway who had little to no reply.

After the four rounds Bak took home the win with a dominant 40-36 points victory over his opponent.

Bak said this about his performance “To be honest in the first two round I started stiff, the nerves did get to me a bit, but in the third and fourth the nerves went, and I felt a lot more comfortable”.

Later on in the night, Woollard faced off against 36-year-old Paul Cummings who after 71 fights had a record of 3-67-1.

Woollard set the pace early with quick strikes to Cummings, who possessed an unorthodox defensive aggressive style as his arms covered his head for the majority of the bout.

He said this about his opponent “He was very tight but came forward the whole time, I’d say he was aggressive based on how much pressure he applied”.

The second round was more of the same as Woollard threw a barrage of uppercuts to his opponent who kept the same stance throughout.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for Woollard though as towards the end of the fight as one of Cumming’s shots connected and knocked his gumshield out of his mouth.

Despite the scare Woollard, just like Bak secured a dominant victory as the judges scored the fight 40-36.

Woollard said this about his performance “I just boxed how I like to box and it’s as simple as that, I never threw so many uppercuts in my life”.

The future looks very bright for Bak and Woollard after the wins, and now they’re both looking to step back in the ring in the new year. Woollard said “I just want to get as many fights as possible, potentially one before Christmas but next year like I said I want as many as possible”. Bak said “My next fight will be in February again at the O2 academy in Bournemouth.