TOMMY McCarthy will face well-travelled Czech Republic cruiserweight Vaclav Pejsar at the Ulster Hall on February 1 and, should all go to plan that night, an all-Belfast battle with Steven Ward could be next for the Lenadoon favourite.
“I want Ward next,” said his manager Mark Dunlop.
“Then a British title shot, then a world title shot… That’s it.”
Dunlop has big plans for McCarthy who had to bounce back from consecutive stoppage losses against Michal Cieslak and Cheavon Clarke in his comeback fight against Ryan Lambourn last month. For a former EBU champion who had become a regular bill-topper live on TV, fighting in the opener in an empty arena was a chastening experience.
McCarthy simply had to ‘suck it up’ to get back on the straight-and-narrow.
“It was just about getting back to winning ways,” he said.
“As is widely known, I was going to pack it in after (losing in) January. Then once I started training again I wanted a fight again but I had to convince Mark (Dunlop) that I was serious about it. I trained hard and the fight was just to get the ball rolling.
“I had a good opponent and then his visa was declined so I had to get a guy over from England and it ended up being the first fight – I was on at half-five.
“I’ll be honest, I did see it as a kick in the balls because I told the people I sold tickets to I’d be on about half-seven so most of them missed the fight. It’s frustrating but you have to stay focussed on what you’re doing.
“I have headlined big shows but you have to stay humble and get back on the horse.”
The February 1 card will be headlined by Colm Murphy but McCarthy remains a massive draw in Irish boxing and free-to-air coverage on BBC will mean fight fans get to see what this definitive phase of his career is all about.
“If it’s on BBC everyone will put it on so it’ll get my name out there,” he said.
“I need a good performance. Loads of people are going to watch it and I want them to see how good I am. I want to get a good win and that gets me into bigger fights.”
In 2021, McCarthy understandably felt aggrieved to lose to Chris Billam-Smith on split-decision. The Englishman was the clear winner of the rematch and went on to challenge for the WBO world title in a lucrative clash with Gilberto Ramirez in Saudi Arabia recently.
“That is a motivation,” says McCarthy who is determined to follow in his footsteps.
“It shows me where I could be and people were texting me and saying: ‘That should be you, you should be there…’ But you have to leave those things in the past and learn from your mistakes. The first fight was razor-close – I thought I won – but the second fight he made the adjustments and I didn’t.
“But I know I can make the adjustments so I know I have to give it my all and train hard. Boxing is all about preparation. I know I have the talent and I’ve got the skills to do it and now we’ve got the platform, Mark has the connections so it all comes down to the preparation.”
McCarthy and Dunlop have their path mapped out and the fighter says he hopes to be in world title contention within 18 months. A “battle of Belfast” with Ward, who returned this year to challenge for the IBF International cruiserweight title after three years out of boxing, would be an interesting next-step in 2025.
“I’ve no bad blood with Steven,” said McCarthy.
“We went to the Commonwealth Games together and he’s my big mate but me and him have spoke about fighting before. He’s up for it, I’m up for it so if it comes round it would be good – a battle of Belfast.”
A NASTY, perhaps even career-threatening, deep gash over his right eyebrow will take time to heal and Gary Cully will need time to get over his shutout points defeat to Maxi Hughes in Monaco on Saturday night.
Lightweight Cully lost for the second time in his career in a battle of southpaws that ended with Sean O’Hagan-trained Hughes winning 100-90 on the scorecards to become the new IBO Inter-Continental champion.
Naas native Cully was courageous and brave but lacking the sharpness in his punching and footwork and the ring smarts that marked him out as one to watch until he was knocked out by rank outsider Jose Felix in Dublin 18 months ago.
The fight had been billed as a ‘50-50′ affair but Hughes was in control from the first bell as Cully desperately searched for the fluency that had once come so naturally to him.
“There’s still plenty of fight in this dog,” said 35-year-old Hughes afterwards.
“I had a horrendous virus and I was close to pulling out of this fight, but I listened to Sean (O’Hagan, father of Josh Warrington) and he knows me so well.
“He knows what to say at the right times. It’s all through experience and that’s what got me through. This belt is Reece Mould’s, so I owe it to Reece.”
Meanwhile, Monaghan’s Stevie McKenna lost for the first time in his career when he came out on the wrong end of a points decision against Lee Cutler in Liverpool.
Knockdowns in the first round and again in the ninth where the difference as England’s Cutler won the WBC international silver super-welterweight belt. In between the knockdowns, McKenna gave as good as he got and judge Kevin Parker scored it a draw but Victor Loughlin and Kieran McCann went for the Englishman. The loss was a disappointing end to the year for McKenna. He needs to tighten up on his defence but will have learned a lot and there’s no reason why he can’t recover from this setback.
However, there was better news for Dublin heavyweight Thomas Carty who moved to 10-0 with a stoppage win against Mika Mielonen in Gibraltar.