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New Year’s Resolutions: Returning Mark Morris – “I missed the buzz”

Belfast’s Mark Morris [2(1)-1(1)] admits that he fell out of love with the sport of boxing for a spell, but his craving for the buzz of fight night has compelled him to make a comeback.

The Andersonstown lightweight has not fought since his fifth round retirement loss to James Fryers back in 2015, and a subsequent inability to secure fight dates.

Morris however has been afforded the opportunity to get back into the ring under young promoter Kieran Farrell, and it’s a chance that the 28 year old intends to grab with both gloves.

‘The Reaper’ spoke to Irish-Boxing.com about the move, and confessed that his time away from the ring has been tough.

“I haven’t fought in two years,” said Morris. “I fell out of love with boxing, putting everything into training and not gettinng fights… it broke my heart. I missed the buzz I got when fight night was here.”

The link-up with Farrell, who added an additional six Irish fighters to his stable alongside Morris, came somewhat out of the blue for the come-forward scrapper, and he explained how “I didn’t even know Kieran was over looking for fighters. Hugh [O’Halloran] from [Facebook fan page] Belfast Boxers told me that the guy was serious and was over looking for boxers and he got me in touch with him. After a long chat I decided to give it one last go.”

While it is a relatively new relationship, Morris has been won over by the young Mancunian, and is delighted to finally have proper backing in his career. He outlined how “I’ve always had goals to hit, this time I just want plenty of fights to show my potential and hopefully something comes of it.”

“I still think I can mix it with the best, the difference this time is that I have Kieran with me and, if everything goes the way we want it to, it will be a great year for me, hopefully ending with a title.”

Joe O’Neill and Gavan Casey look ahead to 2017 in episode 1 of The Irish Boxing Show

Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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