McCarthy claims he fought Blaney with a broken wrist – suggests Irish title rematch victory should come handy now he’s healed

Craig McCarthy [7(2)-0-1] claims he defeated Chris Blaney [12(3)-2(0)-1] with one hand effectively tied behind his back last December and as a result is ultra confident of getting the job done more convincingly when the pair rematch in May.

The first meeting was in fact scored a draw, but McCarthy has argued ‘robbery’ since – and has now revealed he got that draw despite going into the clash with a broken wrist.

‘Built 2 Last’ revealed he damaged his left hand during a spar with St Michaels Inchicore stablemate Tony Browne two before his bloody Blaney bust up.

The Waterford southpaw was advised he needed over a month in a cast and 12 weeks inactivity.

However, Doctors orders were ignored and the Steven O’Rourke trained fighter continued to train and traded leather just two weeks later.

“When I look back at the first fight I think to myself ‘fuckin’ hell man how did I pull that performance off with a broken wrist’,” McCarthy told Irish-boxing.com.

“Two weeks before our fight I had two spars lined up, one with Tony Browne and the other Jason Quigley. In the second round of sparring with Tony I threw a left hook and the pain was incredible. I knew straight away it wasn’t good.

“I was in Dublin so I headed straight back to Waterford and to hospital where they xrayed my hand and found the fractured bone in wrist.

“They said it’ll be in cast for six weeks, but will take 12 to heal. I said ‘OK no worries, good luck’ and I got up and left the hospital without even a bandage on my hand,” he continued.

“I carried on the next two weeks of camp with one hand and it still got sorer every day, but I was determined and only one thing on my mind win that Celtic title.”

The motivation is bigger when the pair meet on Ring Kings II at the WIT Arena on May 9, as the Irish title will be on the line – and McCarthy argues if he could partake in a close fight without his back hand he will win the rematch comfortable.

“If I could do what I did in the first fight dealing with agonizing pain and a broken wrist what will rematch be like? Do the math yourself it’s not rocket science. The belt is going home with me.”