‘I’d lost myself’ – Owen O’Neill bout perfect tonic after ‘horrible’ period for Dylan Moran

Dylan Moran left the Manchester Arena sporting none of the scars of battle, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t in pain.

The Waterford fighter was shocked and stopped early by Florian Marku in what was meant to be his breakout night last September.

An un marked up Deise boxer put on a brave face after the first-round knockout defeat but now admits it hurt more than anyone knew.

The manner of the defeat and the public platform it played out on, really affected the Munster man.

Indeed, it got to a stage where the 29-year-old was only ready to go to war with the world, any boxing fights were off the agenda.

“The weeks and months following the Marku fight were horrible,” he tells Irish-boxing.com.

“There was a point I didn’t think I’d box again. I had lost myself completely, waking up every day at war with the world but I finally got a grip on things got back to the basics and here we are.”

Now having got a ‘grip’ of his headspace, Moran has the chance to get back to grips career-wise.

Moran fights Belfast favourite Owen O’Neill on the Repeat or Revenge Conlan Boxing promoted SSE hosted DAZN broadcast card on Saturday night.

The Dungarvan southpaw says it’s an ‘exactly what the doctor ordered’ match-up and the perfect fight to get the juices flowing.

“This is exactly what I needed, a fight that I can get up for,” he adds.

“Everyone knows nothing beats an all-Irish dust-up, so as soon as it was mentioned I was all in.

“All Irish fights are different. They are a bit special to be fair. For years it’s all I talked about, being involved in all Irish dust-ups that people remember. I know as a boxing fan nothing beats those fights.”