BIG WEATHER boxing hits Waterford on Saturday, December 7 as Tyrone McKenna and Dylan Moran headline the 16-fight card. That number might drop slightly as the week goes on, but hopefully most of the main protagonists will be out of a job. It’s been a while since a show of this magnitude has rolled into the unconventional fighting regions of the island.
Backed by national broadcaster RTE, Brian Peters has previously departed from the main centers of Belfast and Dublin, hosting fights in Magherafelt and Letterkenny for Paul McCloskey, Limerick for Andy Lee and Willie Casey and Bernard Dunn’s mini-tour across the country as he rehabilitates after… Kiko.
Since then, mainly due to non-boxing gigs, highlighted by the Boxing Association of Ireland’s unwillingness to play ball during the period until things are sorted out, shows south of the border have been at their peak.
Back at the SETU Arena in Waterford, ever teetering on the brink of retirement, Tyrone McKenna keeps getting pulled for ‘one last job’. Dylan Moran is a nice guy who has bounced back from heavy losses to Denis Okot and Florian Marcoux. Bouncing around the rings of Austria, Germany, USA and Great Britain, Moran’s last outing was a confidence-building smash of Owen O’Neill. The last time Waterford hosted a solid boxing event, Moran defeated Argentina’s Mauro Godoy by stoppage.
He now faces McCann, who has lost three of his last four, two by stoppage, including a recent rematch with Mohammed Mimoun. Conlan Boxing has teamed up with Florida-based Pro Box TV to deliver these Irish shows.
Tyrone McKenna
The first took place in Belfast on November 1 and featured a great main event between Padraig McCrory and Colombia’s Leonardo Castillo. If McKenna and Moran can pull off something similar again, it will be a night to remember.
“With this event, I thought me against Tyrone McKenna was the only fight worth it. The fans are going to be the real winners here,” said Moran, who once traveled the world as a kickboxer.
“I have the utmost respect for Tyrone McKenna, he is a legend in Irish boxing and it would be an honor to share the ring with him.” What better place to do that than Waterford? I’ve always said I want to fight big and there’s no bigger fight than me and Tyrone. We know what Tyrone brings, I know what I bring, and the fans will be real winners.”