FROM making a major impression on a huge Sky bill to delivering pizzas around west Belfast, it’s been a funny old year for Tommy McCarthy.
This time 12 months ago he was on the crest of a wave after outclassing Jon Lewis Dickinson in front of the TV cameras, and preparing to face Matty Askin for a shot at the vacant British cruiserweight title in early 2017.
It was all mapped out – and then he lost, dropped twice by Askin in a disastrous fourth round en route to a unanimous decision defeat.
All of a sudden there was no British title chance, no Sky shows. Fight plans fell through time and again. Without a pay cheque since November, McCarthy temporarily took a job delivering pizzas.
It’s not how it was meant to be, but the 26-year-old is on the comeback trail. First up will be a fight on the October 21 Ryan Burnett- Zhanat Zhakiyanov bill before moving on to bigger and better things.
“Outside of the ring, it’s been a great year, you know, I got married and stuff, everything’s been going well, but boxing is my life. So it’s been the ying and yang, I’ve been so down about boxing,” said McCarthy, who has been strongly linked with a move to the ever-expanding Mack The Knife stable in Marbella.
“I’ve been back and forward to England training for dates every month that haven’t happened – January, February, March, it’s gone right up to now and still nothing.
“All my mates keep sleggin’ me, asking if I’m going to another training camp – ‘well Tommy, you got any training camps coming up?’
“If you don’t fight, you don’t get paid. I was looking at jobs and all, I was delivering pizzas for a wee while. That was short-lived. I’m too talented to be a pizza delivery man!
“Last year I fought live on Sky, 10 rounds, impressed everyone, got rave reviews. A year later, I’m doing training camps flat out – a professional keep-fitter. The sleggin’s wild.
“I just want to get back in the saddle.”
A potential showdown with Swindon’s Luke ‘The Duke’ Watkins has been mooted but, whoever the opponent, McCarthy just wants to get back to what he knows best.
“If it’s not Watkins, I need a fight to shake the ring-rust off.
“It’s been almost a year, so I need something. After such a long lay-off, I need to work my way back up.”
