“I see this as my debut” – Connor Coyle returns to an Irish ring a different fighter

Such is the high esteem that Connor Coyle [1(1)-0] is held in in Florida, his coach Jim McLoughlin is making the trip across the Atlantic for his fight this weekend in Dublin.

A coach being in his fighter’s corner may not see an odd thing, but it would be relatively rare for a busy trainer to make such a journey, especially for a four-round undercard bout.

However, McLoughlin is putting his full support behind the Derry light middleweight and will be in the corner for his clash with Ferenc Katona [6(3)-2(1)] on the Red Corner Promotions ‘Inception’ card at the National Stadium on Saturday night.

Coyle is thankful to have linked up with the American, who led Winky Wright to light middleweight World title glory, and told Irish-Boxing.com that “Jim is flying in to Dublin on Thursday morning to do the corner for my fight. Cahir Duffy my amateur coach will help him in the corner as he’s been training me since I got back for this fight.”

“Jim’s a brilliant coach, I’m lucky to have him.”

The 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist debuted last month in Tampa with a one round demolition of Euris Silverio. Saturday will be different though, and Coyle explained how “I see this as my debut.”

“I’ll fight like it’s my debut, especially fighting in my home country for the first time as a professional with well over 150 Derry fans coming to support me.”

“I’m buzzing to be home and fighting in front of my home crowd, family, and friends.”

The 26 year old is promising fans a new-look, big-punching, Connor Coyle on his return, and the St Joseph’s fighter described how “I have a completely different head on me now when I step in to the ring. My old career is behind me, and I’m prowling forward into my new career.”

“You can expect a heavy puncher on Saturday night, as I’ve been working a lot on power. Especially with those little gloves!”