Mayo boxer not ready to give up the fight yet

Moylette: This is not the end


Mayo boxer felt he ‘shaded’ final bout

Daniel Carey

RAY Moylette felt he ‘shaded’ last Friday’s National Men’s Elite 64kg Championship final … but insists this is ‘not the end’ of his boxing career.
The Islandeady man lost a split decision to Wexford’s Dean Walsh at the National Stadium, but having watched the final on television ‘a few times’ since, he felt he just got the better of the defending champion. Two of the three judges disagreed, but a ‘very disappointed’ Moylette says we haven’t seen the last of him in the ring.
“I’m definitely not going to give up, and I will be back,” he told The Mayo News in a telephone conversation on Sunday night. “I’m in the best shape I have ever been in my life … I’m hopefully only coming into my peak now.”
Moylette revealed that he had trained for over two hours on Christmas Eve and for 90 minutes on Christmas Day. His 16-week preparation included trips to Birmingham, Belfast, Dublin and Limerick, over 100 rounds of sparring, three sprint sessions each week, and a 10k run every Sunday. He paid tribute to his girlfriend Sharon McGing, coach Martin Brennan, Fitscience in Ballina (who helped him build a nutrition and training plan), sports psychologist Gerry Hussey and physio Sarah Cosgrave for all their help.
“I literally had my own high-performance unit around myself,” he said. “It was very specific – everything was designed for me … Preparation was 100 per cent – we couldn’t have done anything different.”
Coach Martin Brennan said he was ‘totally gutted’ for Moylette, noting that there was an awful lot ‘riding on that fight’. He hailed the ‘massive’ Mayo support in the Stadium, and concluded: “I’d love another crack at Dean Walsh, because I know Ray Moylette at 100 per cent would beat him”.