The fire still burns but motivational Moran admits he came close to walking away

When the Irish fighter with an MA in PMA [Positive Mental Attitude] nearly walked away you know things must have gotten extremely tough.

Dylan Moran [10(4)-1(1)] is noted as one of the more content and positive fighters in the game, but has had his faith in the sport tested by the boxing gods akin to how Our Lord jested Job over the last six months or so.

The Waterford welter suffered a first career defeat via stoppage on what was meant to be his coming out party, Stateside in June.

However, after breaking down when re-watching the fight and enduring ‘the toughest week’ of his life, Moran was bullish about not wallowing. The Star Boxing prospect was adamant he would use the experience to help him reach the top, rather than use it as an excuse to hide from the challenge of reaching such heights.

There was a defiance to the Deise fighter and it fitted the positive outlook people always commented on him having.

The plan then was to get two quick wins under the belt before having a second crack of the American whip, all before the year was out.

Fights were scheduled for September and October, just a few weeks apart and Moran could get excited once more.

However, his proposed clash in Mexico was pulled literally seconds before the 24-year-old was set to walk into the ring. Team Moran had made the trip to Tijuana, had gloved up, warmed up and got psyched up only to be let down just as the ring walk was about to play out.

It was a massive disappointment, but still there was October and Belfast. However, not too long after returning home news broke that, that ‘He Who Dares’ card had been pulled and Moran was left let down again. A fight with Larry Fryers on a sizable American card was then agreed, but the Waterford fighters luck wasn’t for changing and the all Irish bout scheduled for New York fell through.

Unlike his defeat in America in the Summer these were frustrations born from issues totally out of the fighters control – and its those type of occurrences that most prompt the ‘why am I doing this?’ questions – and this time around even Moran wasn’t adverse to some negative thoughts.

In fact he admits he retired more than once during the unfortunate and testing spell.

“It’s been a bad few months,” Moran tells Irish-boxing.com.

“Everything that could go wrong has went wrong, [there were] a couple of times I walked away,” he adds before quickly bouncing back to positive mode nigh on producing an ‘Any Given Sunday’ half time speech.

“I honestly believe I’m gonna’ get there so I end up back in the gym . Nobody wakes up with the title they want or job they want, it’s a long hard process and I’m just going through mine,” he continues.

“There are lots of ups and downs, so it’s OK, it happens, it has to happen. Everyone gets a bad run and I’ve had mine. If you look at it It can only get better, you know. When everything takes a bad turn for you all at once you find out a lot about yourself so it’s been a good learning curve if anything.”

Moran hasn’t mopped since his defeat. Having two fight dates initially didn’t allow him to, but even after those fights fell through he continued to work hard and to try and improve himself.

The popular Munster fighter has traveled to spar and has shared the training gym with some good fighters.

In fact ‘The Real Deal’ heads back out to Lichtenstein ahead of his return to the ring in York Hall on November 29.

“I’ve stayed in the gym since America been in Tenerife sparring Liam Walsh, Scott Fitzgerald and just back from Liechtenstein where I was sparring Abass Baraou, so I didn’t just leave it go to waste. I’ve been out there making it happen.

“I’m going back to Liechtenstein I gave a good account of myself sparring over there and met some really nice people. One of those people was Pit Gleim, he’s contacted me and asked me to come back over to do some work in the gym so that’s where I’m heading.”

Having been burnt before, Moran would be forgiven for having worries with regard to something going wrong ahead of his next scheduled fight.

However, he is content in the knowledge that there is a real ‘show must go on’ ethos on the packed York Hall shows.

“I have everything crossed, but I’m pretty sure this show will be going ahead, these York Hall shows never seem to have an issue.”

Agreeing to fight the tough ever entertaining Fryers in New York suggests Moran is keen to kick on and does want bigger fights at this stage of his career.

When it comes to next month, he doesn’t care who is in the opposite corner he just wants to get in and fight.

“Being honest, I don’t care who the opponent is. I have been waiting months now. I just need to win and to put America behind me and drive forward,” he adds before briefly touching on the Fryers situation.

“The Fryers fight was offered to me I said let’s go straight away. A few days later I heard a few days later it wasn’t happening for whatever reason. I don’t know why, but it wasn’t no weight issue or anything to do with weight.”