Moylette ready to return to the ring

Moylette ready to return to the ring


David Jennings

RAY MOYLETTE has been given the all-clear from medics to fight in this weekend’s National Finals, the first step on the ladder to the London Olympics.
Speaking to The Mayo News less than an hour after his crucial check-up at the Santry Sports Surgery in Dublin, the St Anne’s boxer revealed that doctors were happy with the progress his wrist has made and gave him the go-ahead to enter the ring.
Severe damage to ligaments in that wrist threatened to dash Moylette’s Olympic dreams but a successful operation last November revived his hopes and his recuperation has gone well since. But the Islandeady boxer knows that he hasn’t had the ideal preparation for what he classes as the ‘biggest week of his career”.
He said: “I’m just finished my check-up and the doctors were happy. It looks okay and it’s getting better as every day goes by.
“I could do with more time and hopefully I won’t have to fight this weekend. It all depends on how many boxers weigh-in on Friday and how I am seeded but there is still about a 50% chance that I will have to fight so I have to be ready. There are no second chances this time.”
Moylette’s first sparring session since his operation was on January 4, the day after pins were taken out of his wrist, and he admitted that he was a little rusty when the gloves returned.
“For the first few sparring sessions I was very rusty. I was really disappointed. My conditioning didn’t seem as good as I thought it was either but then the more sparring I did, the better I got, and it has been coming together well in the last few days.”
While the recovery process has only been a couple of months, Moylette stressed that it has been a long road and one he hasn’t enjoyed travelling.
“Both mentally and physically it has been very tough. Training was hard because I couldn’t fight so I had to double my fitness work. There were times when I would get down about the whole thing. There were plenty of bad days. I had to get my head right as well as my body.”
Moylette won’t find out until Friday whether he will be sent straight through to the finals the following week but, while an extra week of training would be beneficial, past glories have been achieved the hard way and he isn’t keen to alter that trend.
“In the past, in tournaments that I have won, I’ve always come from the bottom up. I’ve had to fight from the start and maybe have four or five fights to get to the final. You can’t beat a fight to get you fully fit and the more practice you get, the better you get. That’s my motto so I wouldn’t be too disappointed if I was in action this weekend.”
There will be a few long faces if the 22 years-old doesn’t book his ticket to London but he isn’t taking anything for granted and has pinpointed Ross Hickey and Phil Sutcliff as his biggest dangers.
“Both Ross and Phil are fighting well at the moment and I would say they will be my two biggest challengers. They will fancy their chances of going well but I certainly won’t be leaving anything in the ring. I’ll be giving it absolutely everything.
“This is my only chance to get to the Olympics. I won’t get a better chance and hopefully I won’t let it slip,” he concluded.