‘That’s how to make a statement’ – Eddie Hearn ready to ‘roll the dice’ on Thomas O’Toole

Thomas O’Toole [2(2)-0] earned himself another shot on a Matchroom card by making a ‘statement’ in New Hampshire on Friday. 

The Connemara light heavyweight was handed the chance to impress on the undercard of Jason Quigley’s unsuccessful attempt to dethrone Demetrius Andrade and grabbed his opportunity with both gloved hands. 

The Galway southpaw scored a showreel stoppage win, knocking out previously undefeated American Mark Malone in spectacular fashion to grab Eddie Hearn’s attention.

Speaking before the fight the light heavyweight’s manager Ryan Roach called for his charge to impress his way onto Matchroom’s books and it seems the Celtic Eagles BC man may have delivered.

A Matchroom contract wasn’t waiting to be signed when he returned to the dressing room post the win but an impressed Eddie Hearn says he will get ‘The Kid’ out again.  

“Thomas O’Toole doesn’t have a huge amateur pedigree. He’s a good, young Irish prospect and he looked good in here. Nice left hand, backed him up, and then bingoed him against the ropes,” Hearn said after the fight.

“That’s the kind of showreel knockout you need as a prospect coming through. That’s going to be seen all around the world. People are going to be watching that. That’s how to make a statement,” he adds before suggesting people will now remember the two fight novice and look out for him in the future.

“Every time you go out there as a young prospect, you’ve got an opportunity to showcase your talent to the world. And it’s not easy to get people excited with so many different prospects. So the ones that produce performances like that… You’ll remember Thomas O’Toole’s name. And he’s onto the next one.

“He’s not signed with us but all of a sudden you produce a performance like that — and he had good support in here tonight — you go, ‘Okay, we’ll roll the dice with this young man.’ That was a performance that warrants another opportunity.”

Thomas O’Toole with a HUGE knockout 🇮🇪#AndradeQuigley pic.twitter.com/JorCRvP4Fj

— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) November 19, 2021

Having done tickets and done in Malone on the East Coast, O’Toole now looks likely to get a call when Matchroom returns to that part of the world next year. If the DAZN aligned promotional outfit do promote Michael Conlan versus Lee Wood in New York in March and Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano in the city in April, the 23-year-old Gaelgeoir could have two big MSG clashes to look forward to.

Picture credit Matchroom