JOHN PATRICK HARKER has said that he is “over the moon” after securing the first professional victory of his boxing career.

The York fighter won a 40-36 points decision over Hull veteran Luke Fash at the Sheffield Arena Car Park and avenged the narrow defeat he suffered on his professional debut.

Harker, who is one of several professional fighters trained by York boxing legend Henry Wharton, was narrowly outpointed by the tricky Brett Fidoe just under a month ago.

But the super featherweight showed plenty of improvements against Fash and won all four rounds, according to referee Andy Brook, to put his journey in the paid ranks back on track.

“I’m over the moon to have got that over and done with and to have got the win, my first win,” he told Fight Zone, the fight’s broadcaster afterwards.

“I was unlucky not to get it (the win) last time, but I got it tonight.

“I found it alright in there. He wasn’t really going anywhere when I was hitting him, so I was just trying to get my jab out and get to my first win.

“That was the main thing that I wanted from this fight, I wasn’t too bothered by my performance, I just wanted the win.”

Harker went to praise his manager, the Harrogate-based Kevin Maree of Maree Boxing, for lining him up with another fight so quickly after his initial setback.

He added: “As soon as I came out of the ring last time, Kevin said to me ‘You’re back out on July 2.’ It was literally within two or three minutes that he told me when I’d be back out.

“I’ve got to say thanks for Kevin for that and hopefully I can get out again soon.

“I’m going to get straight on to Kevin and find out what the plan is. I’ll have a chat with him and see where we go from here.”

Harker started the fight brightly and his stiff left jab proved a potent weapon in the fight’s early stages.

In a busy first, he landed well with a whipping counter right-hand and was putting his shots together well in bunch, in a marked improvement from the Fidoe fight.

Putting aside a slight stumble from a nice Fash shot off the ropes, Harker convincingly won the opening round and looked to have settled in nicely to the fight.

Fash, a veteran in his 65th professional fight, was standing strong to the Harker attacks and came away with a huge grin after Harker landed a flush straight right-hand against his man on the ropes.

Regardless, Harker looked fluid in attack and much sharper than in the Fidoe bout, which was his first in over a year, having seen his professional debut put on hold amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Hull fighter responded with some neat shots to the body as a reminder of his threat in spite of losing the early rounds.

Harker returned to his strong jab as the fight progressed into its second half but he was also guilty of taking too many shots from Fash and needed to show more movement and footwork as the close exchanges seemed to favour the 31-year-old.

In a quieter round for the York prospect, he seemed to learn some lessons by closing with some good shots from the back foot.

The fourth and final round saw Harker let his hands go a little more as he looked to finish with a flourish.

After an attractive counter right, Harker landed his best shot of the fight, a lovely swinging left hook.

Fash, who has been stopped just five times since his debut in 2015, stood strong until the finish.