PHILADELPHIA — Elijah Lugo had made that trip up the stairs and between the ropes many times before in his 10 years as an amateur boxer, but it was a completely different experience doing it as a professional.

The 18-year-old had to earn the victory in his pro debut the hard way on Saturday, shutting out the determined Andre Johnson over four rounds in their middleweight fight at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. Despite having impressive credentials as an amateur – including 26 national titles and one world title at the under-19 championships – there were still adjustments to be made.

“I was expecting him to fall at times. I do think I was trying a little too hard to knock him out,” said Lugo of Marietta, Georgia.

“I had it in my head that I’m not gonna try to knock him out. After the first round I think subconsciously I was trying to. I think it was a great experience because I realize that the times that I hurt him the most, I wasn’t trying to hurt him. That’s a great way to understand that you can’t look for the knockout, you just gotta work your hardest and let it come.”

Manager David McWater of Split-T Management said that he elected to give him a more competitive opponent for his first fight because then he’d be able to get the fight featured on the televised portion of the ProBox TV card. He says that, while it’s obviously more marketable to score big knockouts, it can be better for long-term development to go the distance.

“Putting a guy away is great but getting rounds is probably better. [Top Rank matchmaker] Brad Goodman will tell you, he’d rather see guys get rounds than cheap knockouts. And that kid was tough, he wouldn’t go down. I felt like Elijah hit him with everything you could expect an 18-year-old can hit somebody with and he didn’t go down,” said McWater.

Lugo will get another chance to score his first knockout as a pro on May 9 when he returns to action in Houston, Texas on an OTX Boxing card which will also feature his older brother, super middleweight prospect Nathan Lugo.

While he may not have gotten the finish this past weekend, Lugo did find one source of satisfaction on Saturday.

“I was a little disappointed I didn’t put him away. More than anything, I enjoy other people’s suffering. I like it when someone puts a lot of hard work into something and I’m the reason that they failed,” said Lugo.

 

Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.