Jamie Conlan anticipates ‘firefight’ between Dylan Moran and Tyrone McKenna

WATERFORD – Promoter Jamie Conlan is confident the contest that pits veteran Irishman Tyrone McKenna against popular Dylan Moran will catch fire.

Who will win the all-Irish bout, on ProBox TV on Saturday from the SETU Arena in Waterford, Ireland, has divided opinion, although consensus is there is a chance of fireworks when two fighters with a point to prove collide.

“It’s a real pick ‘em fight. It’s a real crossroads fight,” said Conlan. “The winner here has an opportunity to go on to big fights in the welterweight division. The loser is probably staring at retirement in the face.”

Moran is 19-2 (9 KOs), and rebounded from a one-round loss to Florian Marku with a one-round win over Owen O’Neil. McKenna has mixed in a higher class, however, and is serving here as gatekeeper for bigger fights for Moran.

“Tyrone is the marker to say, can he go on?” said Conlan. “Tyrone is coming off back-to-back losses, but he’s been in there with [Regis] Prograis and Jack Catterall and a higher clientele. And Tyrone McKenna is legitimately fired up for this fight, because Tyrone had a long layoff coming into [Mohamed] Mimoune [a bout he lost in five rounds in August], a lot of things going on outside of the ring and then rushed and crashed the weight cut. So he has his own kind of job to rectify, where he is with his career and how he responds.”

While the loser might be short of options, the winner will be able to look towards bigger nights and bigger names. Popular Albanian ticket-seller Florian Marku could be an option for either, but Conlan pointed out that there will be others. 

“Both would like Florian Marku for separate reasons,” Conlan added. “Dylan wants to prove it was a fluke and that he can beat him – it was a great build-up the first time – Tyrone’s always eyed that fight up and it’s a fight with two different characters… Harlem Eubank, Robbie Davies Jnr, there’s plenty of fights there. ProBox have Robbie Davies so it’s an easier fight to make.”

Moran is wildly popular in these parts and the fight is likely to draw some 3,000 spectators. But Conlan is not only excited by the promise of violence in the main event. 

“I think the whole show, we have a bit of everything,” he added. “We have Sultan Zaurbek-[Damian] Wrzesinski, and then Jair Valtierra and Jonathan Navarro is a mad fight to put on in rural Ireland, but I think these people will love it. And Craig McCarthy and Graham McCormack have a real fierce rivalry here. It was heated the first time [which McCarthy won over eight rounds], it was heated at the press conference and both of them are on the verge where it might be win or lose and they retire, but they want to retire with a win over each other.” 

Ultimately, though, the stage is set for Moran to steal the show. He is the reason why the card is here, and the hope is that this is the start of a journey that will involve repeat business. 

“Dylan Moran is a big draw in Waterford. Dylan Moran, Craig McCarthy, Graham McCormack, we see it as a potential move here for boxing in Ireland,” Conlan explained. “Belfast and Dublin have always been the flag bearers of Irish boxing, but we did a show in Galway and when you go to the rural parts of Ireland, there is a genuine appetite for boxing. We are trying to build things. Speaking to Neil Power, who’s a local promoter here, I’ve seen one or two of the shows he’s done and said, ‘We can do something here.’ 

“I genuinely think fireworks [in the main event]. Dylan will try to box, he’ll try to have a cool head in a really hot kitchen, because the crowd will be behind him. But Tyrone is going to make it a really tough place to be. It’s how Dylan copes with that pressure. He’s the one who’s sold all the tickets, he’s the one who can bring big nights to Waterford, bring bigger nights and bigger names. I think it’s a firefight.”