TOMMY McCARTHY has no interest in padding out his record against no-hoper journeymen.
The Belfast cruiserweight says he’s “ready to go” as he prepares to take a step up in class against former British champion Jon-Lewis Dickinson at Glasgow’s SSE Hydro on May 28.
Dickinson (17-4) won the Lonsdale belt outright after three successful defences of the British title and, though he lost back-to-back fights against Courtney Fry and Ovill McKenzie, he rallied to win the WBC International Silver cruiserweight title last year and is currently fifth in the British rankings.
All-in-all, this should be a tough test for cruiser McCarthy, but the laid-back Lenadoon fighter intends to use it as a springboard to challenge for the British title by the end of the year.
“I’ve been training hard for it and I’m ready to go,” said McCarthy (8-0).
“In my last couple of years as an amateur, I was boxing at world level, so there was no point in going back down to fighting journeymen for my first 15 fights. That’s just a waste of time. My sixth fight was against Courtney Fry, who has a win over Jon-Lewis Dickinson, so that’s the level that I want to be at and I feel like Dickinson and Fry are the top-tier of British level. I need to be operating there this year because I want to be the champion by the end of the year.”
McCarthy hasn’t been resting on his laurels since he impressed some very good judges with victories against Martin Szatmari and Vladimir Reznicek in December. He’s been sparring in France with IBF heavyweight contender Carlos Takam and at home against Niall Kennedy and Damian Sullivan.
“I’ve had brilliant sparring,” he said.
“Dickinson has experience and that would be the only thing that would be in his favour. Everything else, I’m better than him: I box better, I’m faster, I punch harder, I’m younger…
"The odds are stacked in my favour and I’m ready to go. If I didn’t believe fully that I would win this fight, I wouldn’t have took the fight, so I don’t believe it’s too soon and I’m very confident of winning. I’ve had a full camp and I’m fit as a fiddle. I’m boxing the best I’ve ever boxed in the gym, so I want to produce it all on the night.”
Sky Sports will broadcast the fight live on the undercard of Ricky Burns’ rumble with Michele Di Rocco for the vacant WBA World super-lightweight title. McCarthy hopes to impress on his second live TV appearance: “I want to be a boxing star and you can only do that by being on the TV,” he said.
RISING star Lewis Crocker is in discussions about the possibility of becoming the latest addition to Barry McGuigan’s Cyclone Promotions stable, weeks after revealing he intended turning over to the paid ranks, writes Neil Loughran.
Power-punching welterweight Crocker, one of the most highly-rated young fighters in Ireland, said he had fallen out of love with the amateur game after being controversially overlooked for a place on the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Youth Games team last September.
The 19-year-old has made no secret of his desire to turn professional as soon as possible and speculation of a move to the McGuigan camp was heightened last weekend after Crocker was sat beside McGuigan throughout Spike TV/Five’s coverage of the Lee Haskins v Ivan Morales bill in Cardiff.
When contacted by The Irish News, former world featherweight champion and Cyclone chief executive McGuigan replied: “No comment.”
In recent weeks, Crocker had been sparring with Paddy Gallagher at John Breen’s gym ahead of Gallagher’s showdown with Tony Dixon, which he won with a devastating first round stoppage last Saturday.
Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn is believed to be among the professional promoters who have expressed an interest in the talented teenager. However, it is understood the presence of world super-bantamweight champion Carl Frampton and Crocker’s former Holy Trinity clubmate Conrad Cummings at McGuigan’s Gym make it an appealing proposition.
Indeed, Frampton was one of many who spoke out in support of Crocker last year after the Ulster Council opted to send Oakleaf’s Brett McGinty to the Commonwealth Youths - despite coach John Conlan proposing Crocker’s selection.
‘The Jackal’ tweeted at the time: “@lewiscrocker1 done over by the Ulster council for the C/wealth youth games. Disgusting! Best kid in the country!”
When discussing his future a fortnight ago, Crocker said: “If the right offer was there, I would definitely go pro.
“I have no love for the amateur game any more after what happened.”
FIVE-TIME Irish Elite champion Eric Donovan will make his professional debut at the National Stadium, Dublin on Saturday, June 25.
Donovan, who won his titles from bantamweight to lightweight, was also a Four Nations gold, European Union bronze medal and a bronze at the 2010 European championships in Moscow.
The Athy fighter, who holds wins in the amateur code over Tom Stalker, James Tennyson, Patrick Hyland, Declan Geraghty and over the 2009 AIBA Boxer of the Year Dominico Valentino, is spurred on by the achievements of many of his previous opponents.
“There’s so much boxing on TV these days and I get to watch a lot of guys that I have fought and often beaten,” he said.
“Their victories have encouraged me to go for it. Professional boxing is a tough game, but I'm prepared for the challenge. The level of support has been amazing and I have already had to go back to the promoters and ask for more tickets because I sold out the ones I was given.
“I look at guys like Anthony Crolla, Ricky Burns and Terry Flanagan and think to myself that they haven’t got anything I don’t have, so I will be looking to achieve world honours like they have.”
DEONTAY WILDER’S WBC heavyweight title fight against Alexander Povetkin has been postponed after the Russian tested positive for the banned substance meldonium.
Wilder was due to make the fourth defence of his crown against Povetkin in Moscow next weekend, but the WBC announced last Friday the challenger had shown an “adverse result” for meldonium when tested by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association on April 27. The winner of the showdown had been tipped for future bouts against British pair Tyson Fury, the WBA and WBO champion, and IBF belt holder Anthony Joshua.
Wilder said in a statement: "I'm very disappointed that, due to Povetkin's failed drug test, the fight is not going to happen on May 21 in Moscow.
"I had worked very hard to prepare myself for this important title defence, spending the last two weeks training in England to get accustomed to fighting in Europe. I wanted to give the fans a great show, but we understand the WBC's position that the fight occur on an even playing field.
"This is a huge disappointment and a setback to my goals in boxing. I want to be an active heavyweight champion and it is still my goal to collect all the belts and become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world."
LENNOX LEWIS has warned Fury that, as world heavyweight champion, he has a responsibility to improve his conduct, but recognises that, even as the "bad guy", Fury cannot lose.
As one of Britain's two heavyweight champions, along with Anthony Joshua, he is vying for the British public's affections and has so far not received the same acclaim as the Londoner.
If he were to win that battle, the financial rewards would unquestionably be significant but, while Lewis is concerned about the damage he is doing to the reputation of one of the greatest titles in sport, he ultimately believes it may do Fury little harm.
"He should know how to conduct himself," said Lewis in the build-up to the Amir Khan-Saul Alvarez fight earlier this month.
"He's the heavyweight champion of the world. And this world that we live in, they like when you say outlandish things. He knows - he plays to the press and he plays to the public. But being the champion, obviously you've got to watch what you say and he'll learn, just by the backlash of people coming back at him. These are just learning things.
"But bad guys make a lot of money. People come to see you win, or lose. Anthony Joshua is the golden boy for British boxing right now, so obviously he's going to get a lot of fans support, a lot of people are going to be behind him."
