Connor Coyle doesn’t let shorts shambles ruin dream debut

Everything went perfectly for Connor Coyle [1(1)-0] on his professional debut at the weekend in Florida. Well, almost everything.

A hard camp, a big televised card [on Spanish language channel Telemundo], and a rib-breaking first round knockout. The only problem for Coyle was that his dream debut featured him wearing a pair of old O’Neill’s training shorts.

“The shorts!” laughed the Derry man when asked by Irish-Boxing.com about his unassuming getup for his punch-perfect pro bow.

Coyle explained that he had fallen victim to the perils of transatlantic shipping, forcing him to wear his training gear. The light middleweight described how “I’ve had a pair custom designed from a lovely designer back home in Derry.”

“I’ve had my daughter’s name put on the front waist line, because I was fighting for her on that first fight, but the order didn’t arrive in Florida on time for my fight!”

“I waited on FedEx up until the last minute before I left for the venue. I couldn’t wait any longer, I had to go get checked in to fight and prepare myself.”

“In fact, my shorts still haven’t arrived. I hope they do soon, so I can wear them for my next one on November 5th [Red Corner show at the National Stadium].

While his ring attire was more suited to a Baltic journeyman, his performance certainly wasn’t, with Coyle needing less than half a round to become the first man to stop Euris Silverio at the A La Carte Pavilion in Tampa.

It was a special night for the Ulster man who admitted that “I was very excited about the fight, I was jumping with energy.”

“It was the fight in my life I wasn’t nervous for. The excitement I had was just surreal.”

“I knew I had put 12 solid weeks of training in and I knew I was more ready than ever.”

“The experience was electric. Walking out into the ring for the first time as a pro was amazing, I knew I had a fresh start.”

Recalling the fight itself, Coyle described how “the first bell rang, and I just went out and done what I trained to do.”

“I didn’t look for the KO, but I heard him squeal the first body shot, so I knew that’s where i was going to finish him. He went to hospital after the fight, found it hard to breath, he had broken ribs.”