WITH slick movement and fast hands, Tommy McCarthy looked a level above experienced former British champion Jon-Lewis Dickinson in Scotland last Saturday night.
McCarthy was in total control of the pace and distance throughout the 10 rounds and won by wide margins on all three judges’ scorecards in Glasgow. It looks like there’s much more to come from the Belfast cruiserweight.
He was a class above Dickinson, who did well to recover from the stunning left hook that dropped him in the sixth round. McCarthy admitted his opponent might well have been counted out if he’d gone straight to a neutral corner.
“I said to the referee ‘there’s no point in counting, it’s finished’ and he just went ‘go to the corner’,” he said.
“If I had just went to the corner, he would have been counted out because he was down for about 15 seconds, but me talking to the ref delayed the count, so it was my own fault.
“I’m glad anyway because I was able to get the 10 rounds in and that stands to you better than just blowing everybody away. But the next time I drop somebody, I’ll get straight over to the neutral corner.”
McCarthy's manager Pat Magee intends to lodge a cautionary complaint with the British Boxing Board of Control after Dickinson's trainer jumped onto the ring apron after the knock-down and "distracted the referee".
"When somebody jumps onto the apron like that, it's a signal that they want the fight stopped, whether they have the towel in their hands or not," said Magee.
"I'm going to contact the board and make a complaint, but I was glad and Tommy was glad that he did 10 rounds."
McCarthy took his foot off the gas in rounds eight and nine because he wanted to conserve some energy to ensure that he lasted the distance. In the end, he did so comfortably and can now look ahead to a challenge for the British title.
“It was a big win for me, but there’s still a long way to go," he added.
“I’m just going to keep training and working away. I’ve always wanted to be a world champion and I’m going to keep working towards that. I’m not going to let winning the other night get to my head, I’ll keep working away until I achieve my goal.”
Manager Magee will be working hard to secure McCarthy a crack at Ovill McKenzie’s British belt. After that, if all goes according to plan, McCarthy will be fighting at European level next year and challenging for a world title in 2018.
“Pat is brilliant for me,” said McCarthy.
“He’s been pushing Matchroom to get me on their shows since I turned pro and he’s pushed to get me an eliminator for the British title. He was able to get me on one of the live slots on Sky, which was brilliant. On the undercard, there was big names, more established names like John Ryder, Anthony Agogo and Scott Cardle, who’s a British champion, but I got the live slot.”
McCarthy went into Saturday night’s fight favourite with the bookies, but Dickinson fancied his chances too and was hoping to win and then kick on to a possible world title challenge.
“Everybody knows what his record is and people were saying ‘the bookies have McCarthy as favourite, but there’s nothing on his record to suggest why he should be a favourite or that he’s even ready to box someone like Dickinson’,” he said.
“So it was a risky fight, but I had full belief in my ability and I trained very hard. It was a risk worth taking and it looked brilliant for me because Jon-Lewis Dickinson was in great shape, he had a full camp and he was trying to win.
“A win for him would have got him on the right road - he was coming off two good wins - and he looking to push on to the world level. Me beating him and beating him comfortably was brilliant for me.”
Further down the line could be a challenge for Tony Bellew’s WBC cruiserweight title. Bellew came back from a trip to the canvas in the first round last Sunday night to knock out Ilunga Makabu in the third at Goodison Park.
“If he’s still champion this time next year, it’s a fight that I’ll be looking for,” said McCarthy.
“But right now, I’m coming up and I’m still earning my stripes, I have to work my way up. Bellew has been a pro for years and years, I’ve only been at it two years. Even though I know that I’ve got great ability and everything is going well, you can’t try and force the issue and rush it, everything happens when you’re ready.”
TONY BELLEW has called out David Haye and Denis Lebedev after he won the WBC cruiserweight title, knocking out Ilunga Makabu in the third round at Goodison Park.
The 33-year-old Liverpudlian and proud Everton fan realised a long-held dream by fighting at the home of his beloved Toffees and backed that up by dispatching Makabu in style.
Bellew lost two world title tilts at light-heavyweight, against Nathan Cleverly in 2011 and Adonis Stevenson in 2013, but made it third time lucky after stepping up to cruiserweight. He challenged IBF and WBA cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev to a unification fight.
Bellew warned the Russian he will have to come to England for the match-up to materialise, before taking another dig at David Haye and calling on the former heavyweight champion to drop back down and take him on at cruiserweight.
“I’ve just beat the best cruiserweight in the world, I’m the best now, I don’t care what they all say,” Bellew said.
“Denis Lebedev, I ain’t coming to Russia, come and get this baby because I've got the main belt now. I’m the man to beat in this division, come and get this. Or that b**** from Bermondsey [Haye], I’ll fight him too, come back down to your natural weight and fight a real cruiserweight because you've gone long enough fighting them clowns.”
Bellew played ‘Pretty’ Ricky Conlan in Sylvester Stallone’s film Creed and insisted he had turned fantasy into reality by becoming a real-life world champion: “I am Everton and that’s why I got up. Nothing was going to stop me tonight,” said Bellew.
“I’ve achieved a dream tonight, all those people who said I couldn’t do it, well I’ve done it. I’m world champion, that’s what I am! The last time I saw something like that, I was in a Hollywood movie, now it’s real. I’ve lived the dream tonight. I am the best cruiserweight in the world, I have proven it tonight.”
Bellew revealed he was beset by injuries during his pre-fight training camp, forced to spend time in an oxygen chamber in a bid to solve a rib problem: “It was a disaster of a camp, I was in a hyperbaric chamber four weeks ago, I had a detached floating rib,” said Bellew.
“I had a messed up left hand in camp as well. The only thing that went well was the rounds of sparring. But who cares? I made no excuses, I came here tonight as challenger, I leave as champion of the world.”
