THE opportunity Owen O’Neill has craved is finally here as on Saturday, he gets the opportunity to fight for a title at the SSE Arena.

Across the ring will be Waterford’s Dylan Moran (18-2) with the victor picking up the vacant BUI Celtic welterweight title and the all-irish dust-up ought to be one that delivers plenty of drama.

O’Neill improved to 13-0 in his last outing, which was a strange one to say the least. He had expected to face Dominic Donegan, but the withdrawal of the Cavan man from the Ulster Hall card in March left him shunted back to a four-rounder against the Edgar Kemsky whose approach to the fight left all in attendance bemused and some extremely irked.

O’Neill was no different, pitted against a man whose antics drew the ire of his own corner and in the end, it was simply a case of moving on.

The North Belfast man had his own issues in the past, missing the welterweight limit by 10lbs for a planned Irish title fight against Declan Geraghty last year, so had hoped his March return would have been an opportunity to right some wrongs.

He has that now against Moran with the victor likely to get a shot at the Irish title next and that scenario is not lost on ‘The Operator’.

“It’s a dream come true, my first time fighting in the SSE Arena and a massive fight against Dylan Moran,” he said.

“A fight if I win, the opportunities I can get could change my life.

“The Geraghty fight was my fault. I missed weight and at the time, I thought my career was over with the backlash, but now I’m going into the biggest fight of my career and I can’t wait.

“I was supposed to fight Donegan in an eight-round fight (last time), but he pulled out at the last minute.

“They gave me that guy (Kemsky) in a six-rounder, but was changed to four just before I went in. I’m glad they did as it was a nightmare of a night. It was supposed to be a fight to get me back out and forget about the Geraghty (episode), my first win Dan (Anderson) but it worked out well.

“I didn’t get to show anything we were working on. After 30 seconds, I couldn’t wait until it was over but a fight to get me back and it’s all paid off as I have a massive one coming up.”

There will be no concerns around Moran’s attitude to this fight as it is also a huge opportunity for the Deise man who has been out of action since being stopped by Florian Marku in Manchester last year.

That was his second career defeat and the 29-year-old will arrive in Belfast knowing another reverse could leave his career under a cloud.

It would be a first pro title for Moran, but O’Neill has got his hands on a BUI Celtic title before, stopping Owen Duffy in the last round with a stunning knockout up at light-middleweight.

“The Duffy fight I got KO of the Year, so this is a massive one,” said the Cliftonville fanatic.

“When I’m out and about, people are talking to me about it, so there is massive buzz that’s getting me excited.  I need to be the best me, so I’ve trained really hard for it.

“I know Moran is doing the same and training out in Spain, so we are both giving it 100 percent and I hope it’s another Fight of the Year.

“I’ve really dedicated myself for this and I just hope it pays off.”