The punches that knocked out James Tennyson focused Tommy McCarthy’s mind

The punches that discombulated James Tennyson sharpened the senses of Tommy McCarthy [17(8)-2(1)].

The Belfast cruiserweight watched on as his MHD stablemate was surprised by Mexican Jovanni Straffon on Matchroom’s May 1 fight card – and made a cautionary note.

Before the fight, Tennyson was closing in on becoming a world title-challenging Belfast headliner, only for any immediate plans to be ruined by surprise stoppage defeat against a fighter he was supposed to look good against.

‘The Mac Attack’ finds himself in a similar position, a world title fight may only be one or two big wins away, as could a slot as a Matchroom Belfast headliner.

Having seen what happened to his teammate on the last Matchroom UK card, he is fully aware he has to keep his eye on the ball tonight.

🇲🇽💥 VIVA MEXICO! 💥🇲🇽

⏪⏪ Watch back that electric first round as Jovanni Straffon announced himself in the lightweight ranks with a stunning victory over James Tennyson⚡ pic.twitter.com/2yEFJBNrsD

— Sky Sports Boxing (@SkySportsBoxing) May 4, 2021

“There’s so much potential for a massive future ahead of me, I need to put all of that in the back of my mind,” McCarthy warned himself.

“James Tennyson, were from the same place, everything was set up for him to go onto bigger and better things but it didn’t go his way. That’s made me switch on, even more, put anything past this out of my mind because this is going to be a tough fight on Saturday, and I can’t afford any slip-ups.”

‘Big Tommy’ is scheduled to fight Alexandru Jur [19(7)-4(2)] who looks a lot less threatening than the original opponent, two-time world champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk.

Many have suggested the Romanian is made for McCarthy to look good against but the fighter himself is preaching caution. Despite promising a more exciting display he notes he is in against a durable foe on the Sky Broadcast card.

“I’ve been saying all week I’m expecting a tough test, as you say he’s got all the experience and boxed at the championship level for some time. He looks in good shape, it seems like he’s had a good camp and he seems like he wants to do his talking in the ring so I’m even more nervous,” he adds before hammering home the ‘no easy European title fights’ point.

“I was prepared for a tough fight but when I saw him [Bilal Laggoune] at the weigh-in he looked like he hadn’t trained properly so I kind of switched off a little bit. When it came to fight night, he was ready to go so he pushed me. There are no easy fights when you’re fighting for the European Title, at the time he was number seven in the world. It was a big win for me, a big confidence boost and I’m delighted I came out the winner.”