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Lost in translation – Limerick’s Graham McCormack O’Shea needs to learn Dublinese


Forget forking out on sparring partners, Graham McCormack O’Shea [2(0)-0] claims he would be best served employing someone who can translate Dublinese into Limerick lingo in future camps.

The G-Train once again delivered excitement as he graced the ring in the WIT Arena on Saturday gone, but was a little disappointed after his second win.

The light middleweight was upset with a second successive rash start and also bemoaned the fact he didn’t stop Hungarian Jozsef Takacs over four rounds.

The emotional and gung-ho start was something coach Eddie Hyland had warned him about and, while Takacs was ripe for the picking on occasions, McCormack O’Shea, had a tendency to smother his work in overexuberance.

His corner were full of assurances that a degree of space would leave room for a money shot and the fighter, who travels to Dublin to train, looked more dangerous and accomplished when he stuck to the gameplan.

McCormack O’Shea said the same after what was another entertaining and well-supported win, but jokingly claimed that a lack of understanding of Dublin coach Eddie Hyland’s accent meant he didn’t get the message.

The 30-year-old told Irish-Boxing.com that “I came out swinging again in the first round! I don’t know what it is, Is it the crowd or something? The first round was messy and then I settled into it and stuck to my boxing.”

“I made it tougher than it needed to be. I should have picked my shots better, but it’s another win.”

“I got brought into a fight again instead of sticking to my boxing. Look, I can box, I might not have looked like that tonight, but I can. I am doing it in the gym with Eddie, but I let him [Takacs] drag me into a brawl.”

“When I listen to Eddie I am on top form. If I do what Eddie says it will be very hard for anyone to beat me, but sometimes I get caught up in the crowd and everything goes out the window then.”

“We are going to have to get Eddie a translator for the corner – that might work. It might all register with me if I could understand him!”

Ignoring the orders of the straight-talking Hyland may leave you open to a dressing room dressing-down post-fight, but there was a person the Limerick light middle was more worried about facing than the former Irish champion after the four-round victory.

“I am getting married next week. The missus is going to kill me. She told me to avoid cuts and look now. I’ll take my time getting changed before I go back out there now.”

McCormack O’Shea had every incentive to use his skill set, but it seems is too passionate not to get involved.

While that might upset his corner, his wife-to-be, and his mother who looks on from ringside, it certainly excites the fans and makes the latest real character to join the pro circuit an ideal undercard addition.

That wasn’t too much consolation to the fighter following the bout though. He took an educated eye to things when instantly looking back and was disappointed himself.

“I felt I was close to stopping him, but I couldn’t find that home run shot. To be honest I am disappointed with the performance.”

“I won’t say it was great because I don’t think it was. I should have stopped him. Look a rough tough fight and I made it harder than it should have been,” he added before suggesting a more plausible and serious reason he may not have been at his peak.

“I’ll be honest I felt tired on the night. I need to get straight back into the gym after this fight. I put on too many kilos over the Christmas after the last fight and I had to drop a lot of weight during this camp. It was at a stage where I was more focused on losing weight than anything else during this camp.”

“I only cut the last six kilo in the last week and a half. It meant I couldn’t focus on my boxing like I should have. Look, I am back to the gym Monday no ifs or buts about it and back up to Eddie the following week to keep learning.”

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)

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