This is not about protests, rallies or social media posts ... just stop being racist, it’s simple
Belfast f ighter Tommy McCarthy on his f lourishing career and on being ‘black before I was Irish’
AFEW years ago, Tommy McCarthy found himself in the Axis Theatre in Ballymun, surrounded by dozens of people just like him. He had been invited to the ‘I Am Irish’ conference by Lorraine Maher, the Tipperary woman who had started the campaign as she was tired of the casual and everyday racism suffered by mixed race people in this country.
McCarthy’s upbringing in West Belfast had been overwhelmingly positive but there were still days when he felt like the only black person in the city, or even on the island. Maher’s work to bring so many people together changed all of that.
‘Of course, I was the only black person in West Belfast and sometimes, it could feel like I was the only black person in the whole of Ireland. But when I went to this conference, there were 70 or 80 mixed race people there, all these different accents from all over Ireland.
‘And some of their stories were shocking. I remember a woman in her 50s telling me how she was rejected by her family. Others were telling me the racist abuse that they suffered almost every day.
‘It made me appreciate coming from a loving family and the environment I did.’
He was never made to feel different by his grandparents, and in the schoolyard McCarthy says his background was an advantage.
‘People often wonder if I found it tough, growing up in West Belfast. But I didn’t. Maybe that was down to my own self-confidence or coming from a loving family but I never felt bullied or abused because of the colour of my skin. There was the occasional name-calling, black this or black that, very occasionally you might hear the N word, but I think people more wanted to hang around with me because I was the only black kid.
‘And then when the boxing started going well, and I was winning Ulster and Irish titles, there was even less of the name-calling. From the stories I heard at that conference, there were mixed-race people in Ireland who had it much worse than me,’ McCarthy explains.
The 30-year-old defends his European cruiserweight title against Romania’s Alexandru Jur on a Matchroom card in Manchester that will be broadcast live on Sky Sports next Saturday, something he hopes will be another step towards achieving his ambition of becoming the ‘first black Irish world champion.’
And the boxer has always been sure of his own sense of identity. He is Irish and he is Jamaican and has never lost sight of either heritage – his social media handle proudly shows both the Tricolour and the Cross (the Jamaican flag).
His mother, Kim, was part of the Windrush generation and, for the first seven years of his life, he lived in the West Indian community in North London.
‘I always knew who I was and was always aware I came from two communities, from a young age, because I would be going over to Belfast for visits, too. But I never had any identity crisis. I was black before I was Irish.’
He settled in Belfast after his mother passed away from a lung disease and his grandparents, as well as his father Tom, did everything they could to make the transition as painless as possible.
‘Because I am an only child, my father would have thrown me into everything when we were growing up. GAA, soccer, basketball, learning the guitar. Everything was tried but it was like I found my calling when I first went into a boxing gym.’
His father, Tom, was working with Seamie Deeds, one of the men behind Oliver Plunkett boxing club. ‘And he told Dad to bring me down one day, if I was interested,’ McCarthy recalls. But not all of his family were gone on the idea.
‘For a while, I had to pretend to my grandparents that I was going to hurling training.
‘I was still playing hurling with Gort na Móna at the time, so I would head off with the hurl in my gear bag.’ The ruse didn’t last long, but the Oliver Plunkett BC coaches could see they had a very promising fighter on their hands. ‘Patsy McAllister, the guy who ran the club, saw something in me and told me, “kid if you stick with this, you will be a champion one day”. That was the time when I had to think about putting down the hurl and concentrating on the boxing.’
As he was choosing between the two sports, sage advice came from an unlikely source. ‘It was actually my grandfather who sat me down and told me to focus on one or the other. Boxing and hurling are not sports that you can be halfway in and halfway out.
‘And I will never forget his advice. He told me with the hurling the furthest I would probably get to is Dublin but with boxing, I might have the chance to see the world. He was right. I have seen the world with boxing. Even though he wasn’t happy with me boxing, he was a realist too and he saw h o w obsessed I was with it. And he probably saw too that I had more potential in boxing than hurling.’ During his time in the High Performance Unit, McCarthy did see corners of the world few Irish people ever get to see. All those former Soviet states in central Asia, hidden parts of Europe. He was the best amateur heavyweight in Ireland for years but injury hobbled his chances of going to London in 2012. Still, he couldn’t ignore the lure of the professional game.
It has not been plain sailing. Having joined MTK Global, the controversial management company started by Matthew Macklin and Daniel Kinahan, he cut ties in 2017 because he was inactive and his career was going nowhere. He hooked up with Mark Dunlop, the Belfast manager who also looks after James Tennyson, and doors suddenly opened. ‘There were some dark days, when I didn’t think my career was going anywhere but I never lost faith in my own ability. But ability is only half the battle in pro boxing, having the right manager is vitally important and I have the right manager in Mark. He has guided me
A lot of the stuff that is going on... it all feels a little fake
to the spot I am in now. He always says that he will always find the opportunities but it is the fighter that has to seize it in the ring.’
There has been one bump in the road during his time with Dunlop. Back in 2019, he was knocked out by Richard Riakporhe, a shock defeat that left McCarthy questioning himself. However, a pep talk with his cousin, the rapper and record producer Labrinth changed everything.
‘The fight was in Peterborough so a lot of my family came up from London to watch me. And then I was knocked out. I was thinking to myself that I am kidding myself here. I think I am going to be world champion and I got knocked out. It was my cousin, the singer Labrinth, who told me that this can be a rebirth.’
He hasn’t looked back since. Dunlop sourced Pete Taylor to be McCarthy’s coach and the European champion hits the road from Belfast every Tuesday morning, saying bye to his wife and kids, and bases himself in Dublin until Saturday evening. It is a small price to pay for where he wants to go.
‘It is tough, but it’s a necessary part of the job. When you are in camp, you have to focus entirely on yourself. It can be lonely, but my wife understands and she is my biggest supporter.
‘To be the best that I can be, you have to surround yourself with the best people. And I think I have the best people in my corner now.’
McCarthy is currently ranked fifth by the IBF, seventh by the WBA and is also inside the WBC’s top ten. A polished performance next Saturday will see him rise further up the rankings in each governing body and ensure that a world title shot is around the corner. It will be just reward for a fighter who never lost faith in his ability, just as he has never lost his own sense of identity.
He has an interesting perspective on the wave of Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd. ‘I remember there were Black Lives Matter protests outside the City Hall in Belfast in July 2016. As someone who always took great pride in being black, I took Amy [his wife} and our kids to the rally.
‘But that was nearly five years ago, and very little has changed. And a lot of this stuff that is happening on social media, the likes of the blackout and that sort of thing, it all feels a little fake. If you want to combat racism, you don’t need to go to protests or rallies or post on social media. You just need to stop being racist. It’s that simple. Let go of the prejudice you have against people who don’t look like you.’
Words that should be noted from someone who has always been sure of his identity. An Irishman and a Jamaican. A family man. Celtic supporter and Antrim hurling fan. A boxer and European cruiserweight champion who is on a path to getting to the summit of his sport.