McCrory bounces back in style against Carbajal

FEARGAL McCrory bounced back in style at Madison Square Garden on Sunday last when he earned an impressive TKO win in the eighth round against a fellow former World title challenger Keenan Carbajal.

The 32-year-old Coalisland native went into the fight keen and determined to lay down a marker after he suffered a first ever professional defeat last June against Lamont Roach for the WBA super-featherweight title in Washington DC.

And he admits the pressure of that loss and what a less than emphatic display against Carbajal would have meant to his career weighed heavily upon his shoulders ahead of the clash. And that is why, after forcing a stoppage with knockdowns of his opponent in rounds seven and eight, after he hit the canvas himself in round four, his over-riding emotion was relief.

“I felt relief because before the fight there was a lot of pressure in terms of the Lamont fight in June,” explained the father of three, who was delighted to have overcome a talented opponent in style, rather than brushing aside a journeyman in order to get back to wining ways.

He continued: “A win wasn’t enough on Sunday night because if I just won and scraped through and wasn’t impressive or dominant or I didn’t perform the way I could, personally that would have done me, I’d have stopped.

“And I was against a very good performance, but I’m not going to mess around as so many people do and after a defeat they fight people who aren’t good fighters and then they think they are great.

“I’m not here to pretend, I want tough fights, I want big fights, there’s a lot I want to achieve and that was the first step in the right direction.

“I’m very happy with how the other night went and it was nice to get the finish early, especially with the drama – I had a bad cut and I was dropped – but I felt like I dominated the fight.

“I felt in complete control apart from that big shot he caught me and it was a massive shot.

He has the same amount of knockout wins as I have had fights, so he knows how to punch and it was great but no-one has ever done to him what I did to him.”

On the back of a largely flawless display against Carbajal, McCrory is looking forward to his next bout, which he is excited about, although he’s not yet at liberty to say much more about it.

“It gives me great confidence and there’s been a lot of contact made, a lot of conversations had – I can’t go into any of it really – but in terms of what is next, it’s going to be very, very good,” ‘Fearless’ beamed.

“It’s very exciting and I’m looking forward to it but I’m also going to enjoy a bit of a break from it for a couple of weeks because it’s been a hard slog [building up to his last bout].

“But that’s the game we’re in and I have to make these sacrifices, but you see the reward the other night. I brought the crowd the other night, the atmosphere was unbelievable and you knock a man out in Madison Square Garden and that’s the reward.

“It’s a memory for life.”

And while he thoroughly enjoyed the overall experience of another MSG win, in front of a massive support on St Patrick’s weekend in New York, McCrory is looking forward to getting back to normality and returning to work today (Monday).

“I have my wife and children with me [for a few days either side of the fight] but we fly home on Saturday night, arrive home Sunday and I’m back to work Monday. And I can’t wait to get back to work, to live the normal life of going to work, coming home, eating my dinner and playing with my children,” he added.

“I’m lucky because I have the best of both worlds.”