Not Bothered – Tommy McCarthy does not care who he faces for European title

Tommy McCarthy [16(8)-2(1)] doesn’t care who he faces for the EBU European title!

Not because he is taking a laid back approach to the title fight, but because he believes it won’t affect the outcome.

‘The Mac Attack’ has been given the green light to fight for the blue strap by the European Boxing Union, but it’s yet to be confirmed who the Lenadoon mandatory will face for the vacant belt

The EBU have confirmed they will designate the opponent once they complete a lockdown reshuffle, with McCarthy expected to fight whoever they install at #1 in the rankings for the title most recently held by Lawrence Okolie.

Eddie Hearn wants to put the Shane McGuigan-trained Chris Billiam Smith in with the Belfast cruiser – and there has been talks with regard to that playing a part in Matchroom’s possible return to Belfast.

However CBS isn’t as of yet ranked by the organisation, and veteran Polish former world champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk [38(39)-4(1)-1] was the top-ranked in the pre-COVID listings.

29-year-old, McCarthy previously told Irish-boxing.com that he expected to fight Nikodem Jezewski [17(9)-0-1] – the fighter he was initially scheduled to fight for the vacant EU strap for the main EBU belt.

Let’s get it done 🥊

— Tommy McCarthy (@Tommymac90) August 7, 2020

Speaking more recent he revealed he had no preference or issue with who he had to face.

“I’m not sure who I’ll fight and I’m not bothered. The belt is mines no matter who’s in front of me,” McCarthy told Irish-boxing.com.

McCarthy has been mandatory since January but has been in blue belt limbo as Okolie didn’t want to risk a defence with a world title shot on the horizon.

The path to a title that helped the likes of James Tennyson and Paul McCloskey secure world title shots is now open, much to McCarthy’s delight

“It’s been a frustrating few months but I’m glad now things have become a bit me clear,” he adds before declaring he wants to use the fight as a world title stepping stone.

The fighter, who previously was close to a clash with WBA king Arsen Goulamirian, outlined how “I feel like winning EBU title is the final hurdle before a world title shot and becoming world champion has been my life long goal.”

Alongside Wlodarczyk, the most recent EBU rankings also included Poles Krzysztof Glowaki and Michal Cieslak, Russians Dmitry Kudryasov, Alexander Papin, and Aleksei Egorov, Belgians Ryad Marhy, Bilal Laggoune, and Yves Ngabu, Italians Simone Federici and Fabio Turchi, Bulgarian Tervel Pulev, German Noel Gevor, and Hungarian Imre Szello.