Thomas Carty – “I’ve had two tougher fights already, now I’m going to collect the title”

Dublin super heavyweight starlet Thomas Carty goes into his second Senior Elite final tomorrow night confident that he is a far better boxer than last time.

Back in December 2014 the Glasnevin puncher was defeated by Dean Gardiner in the final. Now, after a year in the High Performance Unit, Carty is feeling even more confident than he usually is.

The 21 year old defeated Portlaoise’s Bernie O’Reilly, runner up last time at heavyweight, in their semi final, effectively counter punching with hurtful-looking shots to take a 4-1 split decision win.

Afterwards he spoke to Irish-Boxing.com and explained that “I knew, with him moving up from 91kg, he was going to be fitter than what you usually expect at +91kg. He was game enough.”

“I started off ropey in the first round, but second and the third round especially I came good as usual. I threw some nice enough shots, I threw some quality shots in the third round, I should have started earlier, but a win’s a win and on to the next one.”

“In the final I wont be relying on the third round, I’ll be going out in the first and starting early.”

Carty is feeling a lot stronger than last time, and in the months since then has fought internationally for Ireland and claimed a Under-22 title. He described how “I’m a more complete package this time around. I’ve tightened up on a couple of things, and I’m ten times the boxer I was last year. Bigger and stronger, credit to the High Performance lads who’ve worked with me over the last year, it’s showing now.

“I’m feeling sharp, that’s four wins in four weeks, I won the Under 22 title there two weeks ago and now I’ve had two tough fights in the Seniors. Now I’m going to go out and win two all-Ireland titles in a month.”

“I’m training for the Under 22 Europeans in a couple of weeks, then there’s the Senior Europeans as well. It’s going to be a good year for Thomas Carty and Glasnevin BC. Jimmy Halpin and the rest of the coaches are doing something right up there. We have Jordan Moore, Geoffrey Kavanagh, and Emmet Brennan, it’s been a great year so far.”

In tomorrow’s decider Carthy will be faced by Intermediate champion Martin Keenan, but he isn’t worried at all. He outlined his belief that “I’ve had two tougher fights already, now I’m going to collect the title and put on a show in the final. I’m not worried much about this Martin Keenan, he had a handy way through the opposite side of the draw.”

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

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