WILL HARRISON expressed his relief at kicking off his professional boxing career with a conclusive points victory over Scotland’s Gary McGuire.

The Bishopthorpe fighter had been out of the ring for two years coming into his maiden pro bout at the Elland Road Pavilion following the disruption to small-hall boxing as caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

But Harrison showed few signs of the lay-off as he took a 40-36 points decision, winning all four rounds according to referee John Latham.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he admitted, “so I was glad to get in there and get the win.”

“I felt like I was a bit cold to start with. Then the last three rounds, I felt like I picked it up and and got into my groove.

“It was a relief to get in there because this is the longest that I’ve ever had out of the ring since I started boxing.

“But as soon as you get back in there, you start to feel at home in there.”

After a slowish start, Harrison came on strongly in the final two rounds. The third was the best of the four, with a clever one-two landing to the head of Scotland’s McGuire and more flush shots soon following.

Having been in training for so long ahead of his debut, it was little surprise that Harrison was in peak physical condition to finish the fight strongly.

“I’ve done plenty of fitness work in this camp,” added Harrison I’ve done lots of sparring and strength and conditioning work.

“I’ve been training full-time for this fight. I had a solid eight-week camp. I’ve been sparring top opponents so it’s definitely had me ready for this.”

The prospect, who is managed by York’s Glenn Banks and is advised by management giants MTK Global, went on to pay tribute to trainer Sean O’Hagan, who is best known for leading Josh Warrington to a world title.

“The pace of the fight was all down to listening to the instructions from Sean and not rushing things,” praised Harrison.

“We were in there to get the rounds in so that when I get further on in my career, I’ve got the rounds behind me and the intelligence.

“It’s about not going out there gung-ho, as I would in the amateurs.”

Looking ahead, Harrison is looking forward to having some rest over the next couple of months before preparing to kick on next year.

“I’ll be off over Christmas and then hopefully I can get a date at the start of 2022,” he said.

“Then it’ll be straight back into camp.”