Mayo’s champion stands up and fights

Mayo’s champion stands up and fights once more

Dublin
Edwin McGreal

AS Ray Moylette applauded his fans before going to the centre of the ring to hear the verdict shortly before 9pm on Friday night in the National Stadium, he had the look of a man who thought he was beaten.
The dream looked like it was over.
The St Anne’s boxer has long been targeting a spot at the Olympics in London next year and those dreams looked very real when he won the European Elite title last June.
But, despite winning in Turkey, he was not assured of a spot at the this month’s World Championships in Azerbaijan — the main route for Olympic qualification. The Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) had forced a box-off between Moylette and this year’s Irish 64kg champion, Ross Hickey from Grangecon to decide who would represent their country on the world stage.
While Hickey’s supporters felt he should have been on the Irish team for Azerbaijan by virtue of being Irish champion, his inability to go to the Europeans, and Moylette’s subsequent dazzling displays and ultimate continental victory, changed everything.
Had the 22 years-old from Islandeady lost on Friday, it would have meant that Ireland wouldn’t be sending the sixth-ranked boxer in the world to the World Championships.
It was hard to pick holes in the St Anne’s argument that there would be something very ‘Irish’ about that.
It can be argued that, all things being equal, Moylette, as European champion, shouldn’t have had a problem with winning the box-off. But receiving only ten days notice, and still recovering from a hand injury sustained in winning that European title, meant that he wasn’t at full-tilt on Friday night.
As we watched the fight unfold, things were looking ominous.
The Mayo boxer trailed after Round 1 by 4-3. He appeared to dominate the second round and had the legions of travelling supporters on their feet. But when the scores came up at the end of the round, stunned gasps came from both sets of supporters — Hickey was 9-6 in front.
It meant Moylette, usually an excellent defensive fighter who picks off his scores before retreating into defence, had to come out fighting in the final round.
He did, and how. But at stages in the final round he looked tired. Having to lose five kilos in ten days will drain your energy reserves.
But Moylette clinched each time, caught his breath, dug deep and went again. He hit Hickey with some impressive combinations but it looked as if the Army man was picking his opponent off too. The way the marking had gone up to then, it was hard to envisage the three point margin being surmounted.
The final bell sounded and Hickey looked content, Moylette troubled.
The PA man played it for all it was worth. “The winner, on a scoreline of 15-13,” he began, before pausing for about ten seconds. It was enough for the huge crowd of St Anne’s supporters to dare to dream again. At worst, Moylette had won the round. It wasn’t unimaginable to countenance a further four point swing from there.
Eventually, the PA resumed: “The winner, on a scoreline of 15-13, in the blue corner …” We’re pretty sure he would have said Ray Moylette’s name after that but we didn’t hear it with the guttural roars around us in the middle of the Mayo support.
Moylette’s reaction itself was out of control. The pictures in this supplement tell that story vividly. They are at one with the feelings of his supporters; Ray thought he was gone.
From agony to ecstasy in seconds doesn’t make for sedate celebrations.
St Anne’s President Peter Mullen was drunk with elation. His son Dermot was fielding congratulatory texts on his father’s phone. Paul Mullen and Gary Kennedy, his corner-men on the night, wore beaming smiles.
Ray’s father, John, was busy trying to organise people into pictures to capture the night for posterity while, all about, Ray was getting the hand shaken off him by well wishers. That’s that ‘30 per cent’ right hand, remember.
The only calm person was Ray’s sister Sheila. “I knew he was going to win once he was drawn in the blue corner because I had a dream about it,” she revealed.
She was the only person so zen about the outcome.

‘One fight at a time’ says Ray

Reaction
Edwin McGreal

WHILE the carrot of qualification for the Olympic Games dangles in front of Ray Moylette in this month’s World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, not to mention progression in the tournament itself, the St Anne’s Boxing club star is looking no further than his first fight in the Caucasus.
Moylette will leave for Germany next Sunday for a training camp with the Irish team for the World Championships ahead of the commencement of the tournament on Thursday, September 22.
Qualification for the Olympics will go to ten boxers at the championships — the eight quarter-finalists and the two boxers who lose to the eventual finalists at the ‘Last 16’ stage.
But with upwards of eighty boxers likely to compete in Moylette’s 64kg class, the European champion could be looking at having to win as many as four fights to secure his Olympic spot.
“I’m as close to the Olympics as I ever was,” he told The Mayo News after last Friday’s box-off win.
“I’m going to the Olympic qualifiers but I’ll have tough fights there so I’m not promising anything. I’ll go there and box to my best, and if that’s good enough on the day, good and well. I can only look to the next fight. If I get through that, then we’ll look at things again. I’ll go as far as I can.”
His ranking at number six in the world in his weight division will give Moylette a seeded draw in the championships but he knows he was very close to not even travelling to Azerbaijan after Friday’s dramatic fight with Ross Hickey.
“I was three points down going into the last round and I’ve pulled that back before,” he explained. “I just went in there and threw a lot of punches and I left myself open.
“But, luckily enough, he didn’t capitalise on that. When I heard the scoreline (15-13) I knew it could have went either way. I was a bit overjoyed when I got the decision then.”
Moylette had a special word for the huge traveling support of close to 100 who made the long trip east on Friday.
“I don’t know what it is like to experience the atmosphere in Croke Park on All-Ireland Final day but it was the best atmosphere I ever had to fight in,“ he revealed. “That support, it can’t be topped.”