HE showed his True Grit in producing one of the biggest shocks of Glasgow 2014 so far.
There is no chance, however, of Reece McFadden taking on the role of The Quiet Man as he continues his fearless assault on gold in the flyweight division.
"He has been walking around the village like John Wayne," explained Mike Keane, Team Scotland's boxing coach, in the wake of the 19-year-old joiner's stunning points win over world No 1 and two-time European champion Andrew Selby. "Every time you see him, he's running through the fight and showing people what he did."
Who, though, can possibly begrudge the Motherwell-based teenager his time in the spotlight? That triumph over the Welshman at the SECC on Friday evening was such an exhilarating expression of bravery, swagger and style that the entire nation now awaits tonight's meeting with England's Charlie Edwards, the ABA champion, with such great expectations.
McFadden only left the youth ranks in January. Beating Selby, essentially a full-time fighter, was incredible enough. Doing it while showboating, playing to the crowd and frustrating his seasoned opponent to the degree that he spat out his gumshield four times - being docked two points in the process - was something else altogether.
Keane himself could not resist from geeing up an already frenzied crowd as the contest reached its conclusion.
He admits, though, that he had to give McFadden a telling-off after he had outfought Selby in the opening round and provided a warning of what lay in store.
"We'd watched videos of Selby and noticed he switches from southpaw to orthodox," recalled Keane. "Reece just said: 'Right then, I'll do the same'. And he did.
"When Selby started showboating, kidding on his legs had gone, Reece showboated as well. When Reece started bowing to the crowd behind the referee's back, I just thought: 'Oh, Jesus.'
"I had to give him a row in the corner after the first round. I had to make sure he didn't lose his focus because I realised this could be big.
"We knew we had Selby when he started spitting the gumshield out and mucking about. You can't be No 1 in the world and have an ill-fitting gumshield. It doesn't happen. He can have the two points back that he was deducted anyway. Reece won the contest fair and square.
"That was boxing at its highest. There was so much going on with the showboating, the gumshield scenario and the upset. It was an entire drama packed into nine minutes of boxing."
Jim Watt, the former World Boxing Council lightweight champion, has been an interested spectator throughout the tournament in his role as a television commentator and believes McFadden can rise to the challenge against Edwards once again.
"He has another tough draw, but he's on a high and he seems to thrive on tough draws," said Watt. "He must be on top of the mountain with the way he feels at the moment.
"The sky's the limit for him now. In addition to a huge heart and determination, he has a great engine. I am not saying he's a cagey and clever boxer who thinks his way round the ring like Dick McTaggart did, but he uses everything he's got.
"He obviously saw the Selby fight as the biggest opportunity of his life."
The grin on McFadden's face as Selby slowly folded in front of him was one of the great images of these Games.
Keane would love to think that continued success in the ring can lead to major companies getting involved in the sport at amateur level and revolutionising the way Scotland's fighters are funded.
"Reece's smile was so wide that you could see it at the back of the hall," said Keane. "He will maybe get a sponsorship deal with a dentist.
"Seriously, the likes of Selby and Edwards are funded boxers. Boxing Scotland have done so well to get the funding we have, but it would be great to take it to the next level and have the kind of backing provided to boxers in Ireland and with Team GB."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article