Light middleweight Henry Coyle (10-1) stopped Dave Saunders (9-7) in the second round on Friday night at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago.

The County Mayo native was making his first appearance in the ring since his homecoming victory on November 15 against Sergejs Savrinovics in Ballina.

"It was tough. Thanks be to God I caught him in the second. I thought it would be tougher than it ended up being. He has an all right record, and he had gone the distance with some good guys," Coyle told IrishCentral Monday.
 
"I caught him with some body shots and finished him with a right. It's not that he went down, but he was all over the place and he went through the ropes. The ref gave him a count and he never recovered, so the ref stopped it, " continued Coyle.
 
Saunders proved an awkward opponent in the first stanza. “He came to me (in the first round) and he caught me with his head under the right eye. It's not open or anything, but it went well and I can't complain,” Coyle said.
 
Coyle, who spent Christmas at home and for one reason or another "started training for this fight three times," hopes to stay more active in the
 
"I just want to keep getting fights, and I have a few things in the pipeline," said the Western Warrior, who has taken inspiration from Bernard Dunne's recent world title victory. "After seeing Bernard doing what he did in Ireland, it's great to see him doing it at home."
 
Coyle estimates that he had between 800-1,100 Irish supporters at the venue to support him at the 8 Count Productions event on Friday.
 
Coyle, who is trained by Sam Colonna, emerged from Friday's fight unscathed and hopes to be back in the squared circle in May. 
 
"I'll stay at this level (of opponent) for maybe one more fight. If we're looking and they are looking we'll start challenging guys with 0s (unbeaten records),” he says.
 
Though a little frustrated by the layoff between his last two fights, Coyle only has eyes for the next challenge. "It worked out okay and I got the W, so onwards and upwards."