Tommy McCarthy reacts to World title ‘leak’

Tommy McCarthy [20(10)-4(2)] is remaining coy when it comes to world title talk.

Both rumour and report have ‘The Mack Attack’ close to officially confirming a world title shot. 

It’s understood the Belfast cruiserweight will challenge Arsen Goulamirian [27(18)-0] for the WBA world title next month. 

It’s believed a deal has been agreed in principle and the popular Belfast fighter will travel to France to challenge the champion on April 1.

In true McCarthy fashion, the Mark Dunlop mentored fighter was keen to laugh at people’s reaction to the news rather than confirm it.

‘Speaking on the Whiskey and White podcast which he presents alongside friend and fellow boxer Tyrone McKenna, McCarthy didn’tgive too much away: “Basically, I woke up this morning and my phone was going mad. People texting me and congratulating me.

“They were saying ‘that’s a good fight’ and they were congratulating me. I was just like, ‘what the f*** is going on?’.

“But yeah, there has been a leak online. McCarthy vs Goulamirian.

“We will see what happens. He is WBA Super World champion. He has been holding the belt hostage, he has been champion for a number of years but hasn’t had that many defences.

“We have been scheduled to fight him on three separate occasions, so hopefully this is the time.”

Ireland’s 15th overall and first-ever black European Champion has always talked positively about his Goulamirian chances. The 32-year-old with a master’s degree in cruiserweight boxers expresses confidence when ‘Feroz’ name was mentioned. 

The American-based Armenia-born French national won the ‘interim’ title by beating Ryad Merhy in 2018 and was eventually upgraded to ‘Super’ champion.

His last defence came against then 11-0 Russian Aleksei Egorov in November of last year, which was his first outing since 2019. 

McCarthy has certainly been more active with three fights last year, although one was a rematch defeat to Billiam Smith.