‘Golden Balls’ Tony McGlynn could be Crumlin BC’s next big star
“If you ever box that bad again I’ll kill ya!”
Those were the words of legendary coach Phil Sutcliffe as his man Tony McGlynn left the ring on Friday night following his National Senior (Intermediate) middleweight final.
While it was said mainly in jest, it’s the sort of expectation that the Crumlin coach has of his fighters, and in McGlynn he has another top talent.
The Dublin teenager overcame Kelyn Cassidy of Saviours Crystal on a razor-tight split decision in a bout that managed to be scrappy yet still exhibit two of the best fighters on the night.
McGlynn spoke to Irish-Boxing.com following the win and acknowledged the closeness of the contest, outlining how “In the first round he was awkward and long and I went back to my corner and I had thought I lost it but my corner were like ‘yeah you won that,’ but I knew it myself that I didn’t get it.”
“I went out in the second round and I thought I picked him off, so I went back in level in my head, then in the third round it was close but I thought I landed the cleaner shots to just get it.”
“I thought I was going to get it, but the referee had been calling me, whereas I thought he could have given a warning either way. He was coming in with his elbow, he was just awkward, one of them kind of fighters that make you look bad.”
The Dubliner paid tribute to his Déise opponent afterwards, and admitted that “he done well and there’s a lot of respect there, plus it was one of the best fights of the night, he’s a good fighter.”
Next up for McGlynn is the Senior Elite Championships in February [he will not be in the country while the under-22s are ongoing in January], and he is aiming for a move in weight, explaining that “the plan is to get back training and get down to 69kg for the Elites, I’m too small for middleweight, I’m only 73kg at the moment, I’m small. I knew that, just I left it too late to get down to 69kg.”
“He [Cassidy] isn’t even that big for a 75kg, but he looked like a giant compared to me!”
McGlynn has moved from Northside to Southside over the past few years, linking up with Sutcliffe in the famous Crumlin club, and he described how “I’ve been boxing since I was 11. I started off in Baldoyle, when it closed down I went over to Crumlin, been there ever since. I’ve a lot of respect for the people at Baldoyle, they did everything for me, but I just had to move, I couldn’t wait around.”
“He [Sutcliffe] expects so much from me, Golden Boy and Golden Balls he calls me, but he’s a great coach.”
