Ryan Coyne talks about his career, return to the ring on Saturday and title fights falling through

By Boxing News - 12/11/2013 - Comments

coyne4(Photo credit: Main Events) By Ian Aldous: This Saturday December 14th, Ryan Coyne (21-1) makes his comeback against Lionell Thompson (14-2) on an NBC Sports Network ‘Fight Night’ card in the co-feature bout. After suffering the first defeat of his career and finally getting over his promotional problems, it’s a chance to reinvent himself on Network TV. Last weekend I spoke with Ryan seven days away from the fight following his final sparring session.

With spots on network television boxing cards at a premium, the opportunity to fight on the show this Saturday and showcase himself to casual and hardcore fans alike was something that a fighter like Ryan grabbed with both hands. “I was supposed to have a fight in September and I got injured while I was over in Germany in a training camp with Marco Huck. I re-aggravated an old hand injury after what’s been a tough year with issues in and out of the ring. So I took a little time away from boxing to regroup and welcome the birth of my first son in October. After that I saw that Main Events is doing great, great things with NBC Sports, really putting together fantastic cards in great venues and they’re doing the show on December 14th in Atlantic City. My attorney Pat English who is the house attorney for Main Events – I reached out to him about the fight. We all sat down, crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s and the fight was ready to go.”

With the date being set in his diary, it was down to business and setting himself up for the task of beating the man put in front of him. Thompson was a victim of light-heavyweight powerhouse, Sergey Kovalev in 2012 but that’s not exactly something to be ashamed of. He’s an opponent that Coyne has the utmost respect for. “Lionell Thompson is a fantastic fighter. He is a very, very accomplished amateur and solid in every facet of the game. Great footwork and quick hands, good defense but not the biggest puncher but he does everything very well. So he’s a guy that I’m gonna have to be on top of my game (against) to beat him. I am gonna be on the top of my game and I just feel great at the moment.” He continued, “The last time that Thompson was seen on TV fighting, he was being violently knocked out by Sergey Kovalev who violently knocks out tanks and aeroplanes. It’s not that there’s a lot of shame in that but I have to beat him also. I’m not gonna beat him the way that Kovalev did, I don’t fight that way. But, I’m tenacious in my own right and I have a game plan set forth to take Lionell apart and I’m gonna do that on December 14th. I’m very, very, very excited to be in there showcasing my skills under the bright lights on the big stage the way I feel I should be.”

Unfortunately in his career so far, Ryan has had the misfortune of being booked for two world title fights only for both to fall through and never materialize (to which he added, “I’m kind of a unique case in that regard and not in a good way!”). The first of these came in 2011 and the opponent would have been WBA world cruiserweight champion, Guillermo Jones. “I had Guillermo Jones pull out of a title fight with me on less than six days notice. That was really hard to get over. With that said, I was a very small cruiserweight and maybe (it was) a little blessing in disguise because I was not quite sure that I was ready for that fight at that time. You never want to miss out on a title fight though and Guillermo Jones has gone on to show that he has a lot left in the tank and it would have been very tough for me.”

One year on and another title fight was taken away from Coyne but for a vastly different reason. “I’m now in a more natural division for myself which is light-heavyweight where I feel very strong and fast, it’s just an all-round better fit for me. I had another title shot walk out the door on me against Nathan Cleverly due to a contractual dispute with Don King and that was equally if not more difficult to stomach than the fight against Jones because I was in tremendous shape and had just come out of a very, very good training camp with Gennady Golovkin. Everything was clicking and just going as it should have been. I had a bad contract that had expired by its own terms, then went to court and losing out on something that I’d labored so hard to achieve – that was hard. Only in boxing do things like this happen and it’s tough but you can’t even have an iron will in this game – you have to have a titanium will that is absolutely unbreakable to get back in there and overcome these things. I’ve done that and I feel that this is a new life for me. I feel so clear of mind, body and soul that I’m gonna get out there next Saturday night and look fantastic.”



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