Tyrone McKenna vows ‘demolition job’ on Dylan Moran

Tyrone McKenna believes he has rewound the clock ahead of his fight against fellow Irishman Dylan Moran this Saturday on ProBox TV.

McKenna, now 34 years old and a 29-fight veteran, has been in countless wars over the years and gained a reputation for having a granite chin. “The Mighty Celt” had only suffered a stoppage loss to former titleholder Regis Prograis – after the doctor refused to let him continue due to a cut – and went the distance with big punching welterweight Lewis Crocker. That all changed in his last fight, however, when McKenna moved back down to junior welterweight to face Mohammad Mimoune and failed to stand up his body attacks, and was stopped in the fifth round. 

McKenna will now return to a more natural weight of 147 pounds for his clash with Moran and believes the extra seven pounds will make a big difference. 

“I’m 6ft 1in, 6ft 2in, I probably should have never been there at 140,” McKenna told BoxingScene. “Obviously when I was younger it was easier to make weight. The older I got the harder it was getting. I think the Prograis fight a few years ago should have been my last fight at 140. I remember making that weight and it would have hurt at 140 because I was like 2 per cent body fat by the time I got down to it – everything was hurting. 

“When I moved up to fight Chris Jenkins, I felt strong,” he continued. “Lewis Crocker who is a huge, huge puncher, whipping in body shots, whipping in head shots – I could take them all day. So, I probably should have stayed at that weight, but I decided to go down again against [Mimoune]. I don’t know why; it was probably a foolish move. Well, it was a foolish move because we’ve seen what happened. I’m back at this weight and I feel unbelievable.  

“I feel like I’ve actually grown into welter. Previously when I was welter, you wouldn’t have seen the physique that I have now. I made weight quite easily. This time I’ve got a lot of muscle; I’ve been doing a lot of weights, and I feel very strong. I feel like a proper welterweight now.” 

Defeat on Saturday night on ProBox TV means that McKenna could be staring retirement in the face, so the Irishman has switched things up. 

McKenna left his training setup in Dublin with Pete Taylor in favor of a camp closer to home in Belfast but quickly realized he had made a mistake. 

“I sat down and said I want to move back to Belfast,” he said. “I want to be busy with my family, my kids, my wife, and I just had a camp up there. I started camp up there maybe 11 weeks before the fight and I just couldn’t get in the zone, I didn’t feel like I was in a fight. I was battling myself to go off to training every morning and when I was in training, I was just eager to get back home. It’s too comfortable back home and I just said, ‘You know what, this isn’t going to work out, if I continue this train, it’s going to give Dylan Moran every chance to beat me.’” 

McKenna abandoned his training camp in Belfast and linked up with longtime friend Tim Yilmaz out in Munich, Germany. Staying away from home comforts was exactly what he needed and he compared the feeling of being away from his family, stuck in a room, to that of what a prisoner feels locked behind bars. 

“I flew over and honestly it was an unbelievable camp,” McKenna said. “It was seven days a week of hard work, it was constant work, it was recovery, it was sprints, it was weights, it was everything that you needed in a training camp, and I feel like a new man. I feel like I’ve rolled back the clock and I’m fresher, I feel like I’m back to my best again.  

“Even when I was in Dublin, the training in Dublin was unbelievable but when I was going home, I wasn’t doing as much, I was kind of messing about,” he continued. “It turns out I need to be away seven days a week, I need to be away in prison – that’s what it felt like.  

“Germany felt like a prison, like I was away locked in a bedroom. The only time I would leave was to go to the gym two, three times a day. It was perfect, and also the German food was stinking, so I was literally just eating chicken and rice every day, I didn’t even want to eat anything else. It was just fucking exactly what I needed.” 

McKenna is heading into his contest against Moran on the back of defeats to Mimoune and Crocker. The Irishman isn’t fazed by this, however, and thinks his experience at a higher level will help him deal with Moran easily. 

“I’ve got a great game plan, I feel very sharp, very fit,” McKenna said. “I just feel like Dylan Moran, he’s good, he’s a good boxer but he’s not my class, he hasn’t fought my class. Everyone’s billing this as the youth versus the old man, he’s four years younger than me. Everyone is saying, ‘Tyrone, he’s had loads of fights.’ He’s had four or five less fights, so we’re more or less at the same stage of our career now.  

“I just feel like in every attribute, in boxing, I’m better than him,” he added. “I’m faster than him, I’m smarter than him. I’ve got a better boxing IQ, more heart, a better chin, a better pace, and a better work ethic. I’m better at absolutely everything, I fully believe that. It’s not me just trying to put him down, I fully believe it and believe that he doesn’t belong in the ring with me. Yes, I’ve had two defeats in my last fights, but that was Lewis Crocker who’s going to go on and maybe win a world title. Mimoune who’s fought for world titles, who’s been the IBO world champion as well, they’re not bums.  

“I just feel like everything that should have gone right, went right, and I think on Saturday everyone’s going to see that. I think it’s honestly going to be a demolition job.”