SWEET CAROLINE – Emotional Jamie Morrissey Reflects on Piogant Post Fight Moment
‘Hands touching hands reaching out touching me touching you.’
When the DJ in charge of Celtic Clash 12’s musical backdrop took a break from banging out dance classics to play boxing favourite Sweet Caroline it struck a massive chord with Jamie Morrissey [2-0].
The Niel Diamond classic was dropped as soon as the Limerick super middleweight was confirmed the victor of the latest Celtic Clash classic and instantly pulled on his heartstrings.
Speaking after the fight Morrissey confirmed his late and godmother and aunt, Caroline was on his mind in the days before the fight and revealed he drew on the memory of her during tough times of a tough six round battle.
So the fact Caroline was a name recognized and praised in song, as he made a victorious exit from the ring, added to the special nature of the win, event and occasion.
It also left Morrissey emotional to the point where he initially found it hard to consider the potential knock-on effects of the derby win.
“I am sure the magnitude of the achievement will drop on me soon but for now I’m overcome,” he told Irish-boxing.com.
“Praise God for this win. Thank you to my Aunt Caroline, my God Mother who passed away, a special lady, Brooklyn who I represent, Kevin Sheehy, Dinky, Pa Kenny and all these people I had in my heart going into the fight.
“I’m just overcome and emotional,” he adds fighting back tears with the same vigour he had fought battler Robert Burke [2-1] in a small hall classic minutes earlier.
“I think about them leading up to the fight. I thought about my Aunt Caroline throughout the fight to be honest – and fought for her.
“Then Sweet Caroline comes on as I’m walking out of the ring I couldn’t believe it. She’s my mother’s sister and my godmother and a really special woman that passed away. I’m overcome at the minute and emotional, this win was for her too.”
What a fight 🔥🔥🔥
— Boxing Tickets NI (@BoxingTicketsNI) October 2, 2021
Jamie Morrissey and Robert Burke lived up to the billing
It went the distance with Jamie Morrissey winning on points (60-55)
Morrissey moves to 2-0, whilst Burke drops to 3-1
We’d love to see that again#CelticClash12 pic.twitter.com/aZ7Cbnz4vu
Finally reflecting on the fight, Morrissey was full of praise for his dance partner.
“Robert is a tough man and a gentleman. It was just my second fight, his third and we stepped up and stepped into a domestic clash. I have to say hats off to him. He is a gent and in there he was one tough man, so fair play to him.”
The Shaun Kelly trained Boxing Ireland fighter also revealed he went into the fight without his right hand fully operational. In fact, the plan was to jab his way to round but the pressure of Burke forced him let his backhand go.
“My right hand was bad coming into this fight,” he says showing swollen and bruised knuckles..
“I had to pull out of spar a few weeks ago and have been one-handed since, so I knew the jab was going to be key in this fight. The game plan was to use it as much as we could but I had to bring the right hand in. It became clear he wasn’t going to stay off me if I didn’t let it go. The hand is really starting to hurt now.”
Morrissey also stated he always felt he was winning what was a close, tight and tense fight throughout.
“I knew I was winning it but I was aware it was close. His pressure is not easy to deal with. He is one of of those guys you can hear when he is loading up and coming up with hooks, so I could tuck up, hold, push him off and get back on the jab.”
