“Fighting’s way harder than giving birth” – Tyrone McKenna makes retirement call after Dylan Moran victory

The 35-year-old Belfast fighter deservedly won his rematch with Dylan Moran at Windsor Park on Saturday night dominating proceedings before forcing a stoppage in the eighth round

Tyrone McKenna has turned his back on retirement for the second time after basking in the 25th victory of his career.

The 35-year-old Belfast fighter deservedly won his rematch with Dylan Moran at Windsor Park on Saturday night, dominating proceedings after an even start before forcing a stoppage in the eighth round.

He had announced before the fight that it would be his last but he also said that after losing to Lewis Crocker almost two years ago, only to return months later.

This time ‘The Mighty Celt’ didn’t have to wait that long after admitting he was “buzzing” immediately afterwards.

“Eddie Hearn came up to me straight away, he’s like, ‘Are you done?’ and I said, ‘No chance, get me a fight’ so hopefully he’s getting me another fight,” said McKenna.

“I love it. I love scrapping, I love everything about it, I love the atmosphere. I hate the fight week, I hate sitting there and being anxious, waiting on the fight, but it’s all worth it when you’re in there scrapping it out.

“I just keep on saying I’m going to (quit). Do you know what it’s like? It’s like giving birth, you forget.

“Women forget about how painful it was, and have another one baby and that’s the way I am – I forget about how hard camp is and how anxious you are before it, and then you enjoy the fight so much, you just want another one.

“And ladies, listen – fighting’s way harder than giving birth.”

McKenna forced a stoppage in the eighth of the scheduled 10 rounds against Waterford’s Moran. He was in control for much of the contest, despite suffering a cut above his left eye early on.

“I took my time this time,” he said, having taken less than two rounds to beat his opponent last December.

“The last time I only had two hours sleep, so I went out fatigued and I knew I had to jump on him straight away and get him out of there early.

“This time I knew I was hurting him with most of my shots and I knew it was going to come to the time where he was going to go down. So I just took my time with shots and I wore him down until the stoppage came.”

McKenna is hoping to return to the Bethlehem refugee camp housing Palestinians that he visited in July.

“It was on the big screen, they were all watching over there, they were all cheering me on,” he said. “I had to show them how it’s done. I’m going to be back over in November, hopefully. I’m buzzing that I got the win in front of them.”