IT seemed that Tommy McCarthy’s hopes of rematching with Chris Billam-Smith were fading, but on Saturday night at the Manchester Arena (live on DAZN) he will get the opportunity to claim back the European cruiserweight title having narrowly lost in their first meeting last summer.

At Matchroom HQ as part of the ‘Fight Camp’ series, the West Belfast man dropped a split decision with two of the judges giving a 115-114 verdict either way, while Ian John-Lewis scored it 116-112 to the Englishman - a card that bore little resemblance to what went on over the 12 rounds.

Either way, McCarthy was left frustrated he didn’t get the job done as he became a little too focussed on scoring a knockout having Billam-Smith in real trouble in the first, dropping rounds as he neglected his boxing skills and as a result, it was ‘CBS’ who took the European title and the vacant British that he added to the Commonwealth crown he held prior to the fight.

As McCarthy recovered from eye damage sustained during the fight, Billam-Smith went on to defend the continental crown against France’s Dylan Bregeon and looked set to defend against mandatory challenger Fabio Turchi, whom McCarthy defeated in 2019.

However, the picture suddenly changed and ‘Mac Attack’ got the call he had been hoping for and will get the chance to set the record straight in a fight that could make or break his career.

“The eye injury kept me out of the ring and that was a bit melting,” he recalled.

“I saw he had another fight (against Bregeon) and then Fabio Turchi was his mandatory.

“He said in an interview he was fighting him and I said to my manager (Mark Dunlop) that the rematch was dead in the water and we were looking at other angles to get back into championship fights.

“I was just training and hoping somebody would pull out injured at the last minute or something and I’d get a late-notice call.

“Next thing I see that Fabio had pulled out and was fighting (Richard) Riakporhe at Wembley, so a few days after we got the call that the rematch was on.”

Action from the first meeting last summer
2Gallery

Action from the first meeting last summer

There was an instant clamour for the rematch given how close and absorbing the first 12 rounds were between the pair and the final stat showing Billam-Smith had landed 155 punches to McCarthy’s 154 a clear indication of how little there was in it.

It’s a common theory that rematches are decided by who makes the required adjustments and the better boxer is usually able to do that, so McCarthy insists he has learnt from his mistakes last summer and is in a much better place to get the win.

“It was such a close fight, but I don’t think it needed to be that close,” he reflected.

“Had I stuck to my boxing, I could have won quite convincingly. I thought I won that first fight, but I just made life difficult for myself.

“This time around I know what I have to do and I have an opportunity to fix those mistakes I made the first time.”

Prior to the first meeting, Billam-Smith entered with a reputation of being a huge puncher and would hold the advantage in terms of size and strength, but despite landing some heavy shots, McCarthy coped well with the fire coming his way.

The Lenadoon man knows exactly what is coming his way this weekend so is forewarned and forearmed.

He doesn’t believe the champion will radically change his approach, so feels that if he can box a lot cleverer then he will regain the title and put himself back in the frame for a shot at world honours.

“He has a high knockout per centage, so you were thinking how big of a puncher is he and how strong is he,” he said of his thoughts heading into the first meeting.

“You never want to feel people’s punch power, but in the first round, I wanted to get in close and feel what he is like physically.

“I know what that is like now and I have done 12 rounds with him, felt the punch power and physicality, so I know what I’m going into this time.

“If you look at any boxer in the world at any level, up at the elite level they box the same every time and don’t change a lot. He got the decision the last time, so I think they’ll want to do the same of what they did but just more of it, so I’m not expecting too much of a change in what he does. I’m just expecting him to come out and have another hard fight.”

The build-up to that first fight was dominated by not just the rivalry between the fighters, but tension between McCarthy and Billam-Smith’s coach, Shane McGuigan.

Indeed, Carl Frampton - whose fall-out with the McGuigans needs little explanation - helped out in McCarthy’s corner, but that won’t be the case this time with the two-weight champion on duty for BT Sport on a different show this weekend.

It all added an extra intrigue, but this time around it’s all business and with his hopes of becoming a world champion potentially hinging on the outcome and with the lessons learned from last summer, he may be in a position to deliver and regain the European crown.

“This is a fight that doesn’t need to be hyped or talked up, so I’ve just kept the head down and tried to stay away from social media as much as possible so I can get away from any distractions,” he stressed.

“I’ve done the work so it’s just time to roll the dice again and get the belts back.”