Mc Cafferty Wins European Title By Knock Out

P.T’s Kickboxer, Tommy Mc Cafferty had the biggest fight of his life in Liverpool on Saturday, November as he faced off against current British 72kg champion Jason Curtis.

The English counterpart has a fearsome reputation within the squared circle and by all reports possessed knockout power in his heavy right cross. Training was carefully constructed by former 3 time World champion, Paddy Toland, as he carefully pieced together a training plan that would provide dividends in this highly anticipated encounter. Training included a gruelling two training sessions per day which included regular doses of sparring with top class training partners, pad work, shadow boxing and weight training sessions. This was all slotted together around Mc Cafferty’s penultimate year at Queens University as he attempts to complete a prestigious honours degree in architecture.

With only a handful of contests under his belt, P.T’s head coach and owner, Paddy Toland, seen the Derry’s man’s potential in full contact competition and kept a careful eye in training and watched him excel at an alarming rate. But Mc Cafferty is by no means new to the combat arena as, he sports a 16 year span of Shootokan Karate. He was hugely successful and competed in the prestigious World Championships in Germany. He also had a successful stint as an amateur boxer and notched up some note worthy wins in the ‘sweet science’. With his unquestionable pedigree, Mc Caffertys move to full contact competition has been a natural progression and it’s worth noting that the multi talented P.T’s competitor currently sports a 10-0 record in professional rules ‘Mixed Martial Arts Competition’.

The atmosphere was electric in Liverpool as the fighters made their way individually to the ring. It was apparent that the English based fighter held favour with the crowd as they cheered relentlessly willing the local fighter to victory. The P.T’s fighter was unphased by this and was perfectly primed for battle as the pair squared off and readied for combat.

Typically, the opening round was a ‘feeling out’ process as the pair picked at each others defences in an attempt to find a kink in each others armour. This produced a pivotal point in the fight as Mc Cafferty got through his counter parts defence and landed a stiff jab, the result was that his opponent momentarily lost his footing and slipped and landed on the canvas. Although not a knock down, one could visibly see that the Irishman was growing in confidence and this lapse in concentration enhanced it even further. Mc Cafferty was swift in his delivery of strikes and appeared to be beating his opponent to the punch as the round reached its end.

During the minute break, the P.T’s corner exchanged instructions with their fighter and as the bell rang, the pair bounced off of their stools and squared off for Round Two. It soon became clear what these instructions were as Mc Cafferty had visibly upped his work rate and piled on the pressure. As a direct result, Curtis was finding it increasingly difficult to handle the vibrant Donegal man. Mc Cafferty was firing on all cylinders in this round and he varied the angles and styles of attack at will as he hunted for the victory. His efforts were rewarded as he landed a sharp and devastating combination of jab, cross, left high kick followed up by a fatal right cross. This resulted in Curtis being sent crashing to the canvas and struggled to regain his composure. The referee began the 10 count and Curtis attempted to scramble back to his feet in the latter half of the count. The referee carefully examined the English fighter and checked for damage with the result that the fight was resumed. Mc Cafferty was now fired up and came across the ring like a raging bull landing a very hard right cross which sent his opponent through the ropes and the contest was stopped. The home crowd appeared to be stunned but Mc Cafferty and his corner celebrated this monumental win as P.T’s Kickboxing club gained its third European title.

Undoubtedly, Mc Cafferty looks like a well accomplished kickboxer and it would be true to say that his stand up arsenal is much improved under the watchful eyes of the P.T’s Team. He has cemented his place among the elite amateur kickboxers on the European circuit and there is little doubt that this ambitious Donegal resident will want to challenge for honours on the world stage at a later date.

In conclusion, the next few months will be very interesting for P.T’s as the club has went from strength to strength since the opening of full time training facilities. They boast a very strong stable of fighters including a former two time European champion, a current European champion, a current Commonwealth champion, a Commonwealth challenger, and a current Ladies Irish champion. It seems that P.T’s are perfectly poised to raise the standards of full contact kickboxing yet again in 2008. Their fighters possess the perfect combination of success, experience and youth and when these attributes are married with an experienced coaching staff, it makes for very exciting times for the Donegal outfit.