HAVING defied his mother’s wishes and now having to sacrifice spending time with his young family, Eamonn O’Kane is hoping his link-up with Swindon’s Paddy Fitzpatrick can help move him towards a dream world title shot.

The middleweight from Dungiven in Northern Ireland is now managed and trained by the Ferndale Road coach.

And the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist - he beat Great Britain’s 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Anthony Ogogo in the final in Delhi - feels the move, which sees O’Kane spending Mondays to Fridays in Swindon, has breathed fresh air into his already fine career.

But the move across the Irish Sea isn’t without it’s heartache for the 32-year-old current WBC International Silver and IBF Inter-continental middleweight champion.

“It is very difficult,” the married father of two told the Advertiser. “My wife, Nicola; we have been married since June 2007. I love her very much. It breaks my heart leaving them (five-year-old Charlie and three-year-old Oscar) every week.

“But I have got to do what I have got to do. I have got to make the best of what I can do.

“If it means a bit of extra effort and travel for period of time and I become a better boxer and achieve what I can achieve, then I will be able to retire happy.

“Over the next two to three years, I want big things to happen. I think I’m in the right place and I’m very grateful to Paddy and the team here for welcoming me in.”

But O’Kane says that he had to defy a promise made to his mother to achieve his goals.

“I started boxing when I was six and I started boxing competitively when I was 11,” said the boxer nicknamed ‘King Kane’, whose only pro defeat came against John Ryder in 2012, said. “My mother said it was OK as long as I never went professional.

“We stayed amateur as long as we could. We achieved a hell of a lot, more than we ever dreamed.

“I want to achieve more. I want to fight for world titles and win world titles. There’s definitely a window there now.”