Positive Craig McCarthy to learn lessons following first career knockdown

Craig McCarthy [5(0)-0] took getting dropped on the chin and was in positive mood after he banked another win on Saturday night.

The Waterford favourite was on course for a routine points victory on the ‘Rise Again’ card in Tallaght but his following got a fright when Lucasz Rafalko sent him to the canvas heavily in the fourth and final round.

Build2Last lived up to his ring monkier and recovered immediately to eventually win on points and, post-fight, was typically upbeat and looking for the positives.

The Steven O’Rourke-trained ticket-seller was happy with how he managed the scare and was almost grateful to have that experience in his locker moving forward.

“I got a bit of a fright, alright,” he told Irish-Boxing.com afterwards.

“In fairness, it was just a flash knockdown. We were rolling inside and he caught me square coming out but that is boxing. It’s the hurt business we are in,” he reasoned before putting a positive spin on things.

“It’s a learning curve and I will take what I can from this fight and, look, I got the win and we move forward.”

“I can now bank the experience of being knocked down and I can take confidence from the fact I didn’t panic and I remained calm.”

McCarthy was in control apart from that one moment and was on course to register an easy win. However, there was an element of his support who were calling for him to up the gears.

However, the Déise favourite revealed his opponent’s negativity didn’t allow for that.

It does seem that McCarthy is one of those fighters that we will see the best of when he leaves the journeyman stage.

The southpaw is an intellectual operator rather than a seek and destroy merchant and the defensive nature of journey men doesn’t allow for him to show his skill set he suggests.

“Maybe I didn’t show my best in there but, look, maybe my style doesn’t suit fighting journeymen. The more you see a boxer coming at me the better you will see me.”

“That isn’t me making an excuse or anything, I am still going to beat these guys but it think I will look better against higher-level opposition.”

“He was real negative and I felt I was hunting for the stoppage too much. In fairness to him he was a tough boy. He was very strong. He was unbeaten himself, okay 1-0 only, but I am happy to get that on my record.”

“I am happy enough with the performance, but I hunted too much. I’d worked on inside fighting, but all he wanted to do was hold. I couldn’t do a thing inside.”

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)