Absence pays off as Gym 01's Ollie Southern's maiden pro win 'felt like a training session'

Ollie Southern revealed his Shock N Awe 30 win over Aaron Laleye felt like a training session.
Ollie Southern picked up his first pro win at Shock N Awe 30. Picture: Vernon Nash (180686-020)Ollie Southern picked up his first pro win at Shock N Awe 30. Picture: Vernon Nash (180686-020)
Ollie Southern picked up his first pro win at Shock N Awe 30. Picture: Vernon Nash (180686-020)

The flyweight’s year-long absence paid dividends as he picked up a unanimous-decision victory at Portsmouth Guildhall to register a maiden success in the pro ranks.

After suffering a defeat to Benoit Poittevin last November, Southern – who trains at Fratton’s Gym 01 – took time out of the cage to hone his arsenal.

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And the Southsea-based talent’s countless hours of training bore fruit and he put in a ‘perfect’ performance.

Southern said: ‘I know I’ve been capable of a performance like that for a long time so it was nice to actually go and deliver.

‘It feels like the beginning of my pro career. On my debut, a nightmare shot changed the whole fight so I took a year off.

‘Everything in this fight is what I do in the gym – it felt like a training session. Everything went my way and it was perfect.

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‘There wasn’t a point when I felt out of control and that was the best thing about it. On the day of a fight, usually I’ll be a bit nervous but from the warm-up I knew everything was going well.

‘I felt in my element the whole time. There are stuff that didn’t go how I wanted but everywhere the right went I was in control.

‘My break 100 per cent paid off. Aaron didn’t make anything easy but in each position, I felt a step ahead. Even when he was getting ahead, I just slowed the fight down.

‘It’s a benchmark where I am and it was also really good going the three rounds.’

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Southern is targeting a quick return to the cage before the end of the year.

The University of Portsmouth graduate added: ‘I want to fight as soon as possible. My name is out to a couple of shows so hopefully I’ll be out before the end of the year.

‘If it’s the worse case then it’ll be early next year. At the moment, I just want to fight as often as possible.

‘I’ve picked no injuries, I want to be active as possible then see where we get to by the end of next year.’

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