Home favourite Ray Moylette brought the curtain down on his boxing career by earning a hard-fought decision over Argentina’s Requiem Arce in Castlebar on Sunday night.
Moylette, who was awarded a score of 76-75, recognised afterwards that the verdict could have gone either way after he climbed off the canvas in the second round and survived a savage onslaught at the end of the fifth.
“I’ve been boxing a long time and that’s the hardest I’ve ever been hit,” the super lightweight from Mayo explained afterwards.
Moylette, who won gold at the world Junior and European senior championships as an amateur, was fighting for the last time as a professional in front of an adoring home crowd in the impressive TF Royal Theatre.
Arce is a tough and durable opponent who seemed to possess more power than the home fighter, but Moylette was the better boxer, and that proved to be decisive in the end as his jab caught the Argentinian time and time again.
Afterwards, Moylette agreed that there had been little to separate them. In the final round his jab edged what he needed as the packed house roared him to glory.
“I’ve been on the wrong end of many tight decisions over the past 10 years, so it was nice to get one fall my way for once tonight,” he said.
The verdict was greeted with wild celebrations. Moylette was clearly relieved to have emerged victorious.