No shoes, no shorts, no coach, no problem for Dylan Moran

Dylan Moran‘s National Stadium curse did its best to upset him again on Saturday night.

The Waterford welterweight has been open about the number of disappointments he has had in the famous ring throughout his amateur career and as a result was hoping to start a process of creating happy memories in the Dublin venue last weekend.

The 23-year-old Kilmacthomas prospect did manage to register an eye-catching knockout win over Gyula Rozsas on the Ireland’s Last Man Standing card, but only after overcoming a difficult few days and showing a pure ‘get the job done’ mentality.

Moran [5(3)-0] was meant to celebrate his homecoming in style and in front of a large crowd, but Storm Emma made fan travel difficult, prevented new flash gear from being delivered in the post, saw him without his coach Kieran Farrell, and had him questioning whether or not he would be even trading leather.

“Tonight was meant to a big night. I got loads of gear made up. I had loads of people coming and weather just done me on it. Kieran Farrell couldn’t even be here with me, all my gear got lost, I was stuck in the house for three days and, as far as I was concerned, I wasn’t fighting until 3:00pm today,” Moran told Irish-Boxing.com before revealing he was close to hitting the pub when his fight was confirmed

“In my mind, it was all off,” admitted the Manchester-based pro who was adopted by Phil Sutcliffe Sr and the Crumlin BC team for the night. “I was about to go out with my mates that had traveled with me but, look it, we got the job done in the end.”

Moran did look relatively impressive against late notice opposition. He certainly looked driven to entertain, got the job done in a professional manner and, not for the first time, dealt with adversity.

“I got the win and a third-round knockout. I am happy with that, but it’s just ‘job done’.”

“I have only been pro a year but I have had many shows cancelled. You learn quickly, it’s something you have to be prepared for. You get last minute pull-outs, change in opponents and stuff like that, but you have to deal with it.”

The Last Man Standing win was Moran’s fifth since turning pro. In fairness, he has been pitted with some tough journeymen early on, but he remains keen for a step up.

However, he is happy to let coach and manager Farrell plot the career course.

“Look that is in Kieran’s hands. I have been looking for a step up since day one I am sure it’s only around the corner, but that is up to him he knows what I am doing. Me? I am ready I want it, but we won’t cut corners.”

The former top kickboxer, who is due out again in Manchester this June, had to watch from afar as pro boxing returned to his home county of Waterford last month.

Moran was delighted to see such a positive reaction to the Ring Kings show at the WIT Arena and stressed that his dream remains to bring a title fight back to the Déise.

“I was meant to be on the Eubank show that weekend, but there you go another cancellation. The Waterford show looked amazing and fair play to the lads they smashed it and it was great for the city.”

“My plan from day one was to bring a show to Waterford. I want to bring a big title fight to Waterford that is the dream, but no rush on it.”

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)