Mark Morris impresses on return to the ring

Mark Morris made an impressive return to the ring tonight in Belfast.

The Gleann super featherweight had been out of action since his 2013 Celtic Nations title loss to James Fryers but was given an opportunity to fight again under Kieran Farrell and got the Irish underway tonight at The Devenish Venue.

Now training under Ray Ginley and Dee Walsh at the Immanuel Boxing Academy, Morris took on tough Croatian Antonio Horvatic and scored an eye-catching points win on the ‘A New Era’ fight card.

His first fight in almost 25 months, Morris began surprisingly sharp, ripping in hooks to the body and landing a lightning-quick four punch combination upstairs that had the Balkan wobbling.

Horvatic would start the second more aggressively, but Morris soon started to time him coming in.

The Croatian was then given a count in the third under rather odd circumstances, taking an innocuous shot to the body but seeing his ankle momentarily buckle and his glove brush the canvas. Immediately afterwards though Morris would hurt him for real with a big uppercut, splaying his nose open and causing blood to pour.

Horvatic did well to see out the round and, to his credit, came firing back in the final stanza, but ‘The Reaper’ Morris and his ramrod jab would stay on top.

Going to the cards with no uncertainty, the Belfast man was awarded a 40:35 win on John Lowey’s card.

Morris moves to 3(1)-1(0) with the comeback victory, while Horvatic drops to 10(5)-36(8).