‘I would have pulled him out’ – Dunlop makes interesting McCarthy – CBS rematch revalations

Mark Dunlop told Tommy McCarthy to ‘stay down’ after he was dropped by Chris Billiam Smith in their eagerly anticipated rematch last month.

The experienced manager and promoter knew ‘The Mac Attack’ had no hope of victory by that stage and didn’t want to see him take any more punishment.

It’s not that Dunlop didn’t believe the former European Champion had the talent to get back into the fight, it was more he noticed ‘Big Tommy’ wasn’t himself and something wasn’t right.

Upon further investigation, he discovered that was indeed the case and claims if he was aware of how the camp had gone he’d have pulled his fighter out.

“Everything was wrong with that fight. If I’d known some of the stuff going on I would have pulled him,” a very honest Dunlop told Irish-boxing.com.

“But Tommy being Tommy he rolled the dice. Whenever he went down that night I could tell he wasn’t at the races, so I said to him ‘stay down, just forget about it’. it just wasn’t happening for him there was no point in going through anymore. The fight was just going the one way.”

The MHD boss is adamant that CBS performance has the potential to be a once off and pointed out McCarthy is ‘not done’. In fact, he is already plotting a route back for the popular Belfast fighter.

Dunlop hopes to get ‘Big Tommy’ a win next month before exploring the offers Matchroom have put on the table.

“Tommy started training back in my gym and is just taking things one day at a time. He’s not done by any means.

“He is still with Matchroom and they were talking to me the other day about a possible fight but before he takes that fight I want him a win.”

McCarthy recently confirmed he won’t be training in Dublin under Pete Taylor anymore. Dunlop was keen to stress the move doesn’t mean they are placing blame on the fighter coach relationships, the manager suggesting he wanted Ireland’s 15th ever European champion closer to home so he could keep him motivated.

“I can’t be there all the time especially when he is down in Dublin. I am only going off what he is telling me and he is saying everything is going well. Then when I was seeing what I was seeing over the last three weeks it wasn’t alright. He was telling me he was ready but he wasn’t ready.

“Tommy blames nobody and I blame nobody I’m just saying I know from what I’ve seen he wasn’t right. He was better in the first fight. I would like Tommy to train in my gym now, Tommy knows this but he is the type that needs a wee shove now and again.”