PADDY Fitzpatrick was pleased with how Luke Watkins handled himself in his debut professional fight at Wembley Arena.

The 24-year-old cruiserweight claimed a fourth round stoppage success over David Vicena, but it was the manner of how the debutant went about his work that pleased the trainer.

There was no charging in from the Swindonian and while Fitzpatrick – who also oversaw George Groves’ points success over Christopher Rebrasse to win the European super-middleweight title in the main event – felt that the stoppage was premature, though that it was only a matter of time before the fight was called.

“I think it was a little bit early if I’m honest,” Fitzpatrick told the Advertiser.

“I think it is fair to say that anyone watching the fight will say that Duke was in full control and was picking it up round by round by round.

“I do believe that Duke would have stopped him anyway - he was catching him more and more when he turned southpaw.

“(For) most people who box orthodox and then turn southpaw it is a defensive move, it is to give the opponent in front of them something different to look at and make them second guess themselves.

“Duke doesn’t turn southpaw for those reasons, it is an aggressive move, so as soon as he turned southpaw I knew that he had it in his mind to be more aggressive so it was only a matter of time.”

The Ferndale Road-based trainer was also pleased with how Watkins handled himself in the build-up to the fight, the opening bout of the night at Wembley.

“He showed a lot composure for a guy having his first fight on such a big stage,” Fitzpatrick said.

“He was very good (in the build up to the fight).

“I like his honesty you know, he is not the kind of guy that hides things, he doesn’t hide behind bravado, he will let you know how he is feeling.

“He was excellently composed through the whole week and when he did the weigh-in he came back out he said ‘oh all the hairs on my neck stood up when I got on the scales’.

“He didn’t try and hide and brush it off. He came out, the nerves are one thing, it is keeping your composure is the other thing.

“Every man is going to feel the nerves, I hope you always feel the nerves no matter what level you get to, it is how you control them and I think that he did a good job.”