Boxing News — January 11, 2018

40 lBOXING NEWSlJANUARY 11, 2018 http://www.boxingnewsonline.net

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With JOHN DENNEN

AMATEURS

“I am the boxer to watch for at my

weight for the Commonwealth Games.

100 per cent,” he said. “Well, I’m classing

myself as the number one seed.”

Last year saw him win a silver medal

at the European championships, though

he was disappointed to lose his second

bout at the Worlds. “A little bit frustrating.

I moved up weight class and I didn’t fill

into the weight properly so I was boxing

kids a lot bigger than me. It was a little

bit harder, they were

quite strong. The only

kids that beat me last

year were kids who have

been stronger than us.

I’ve been on the steaks

and on the weights so

hopefully I’ll be a bit

stronger,” McCormack

said. “I was pleased with

getting a silver medal but

when you get there, you

want the gold don’t you?

“It was [Hovhannes] Bachkov from

Armenia [in the European final]. It was

a man against a boy... I had a tough

tournament in Ukraine. I boxed an

Olympic bronze medallist the day before,

Evaldas Petrauskas, so I was tired. I was

already tired for the final. But the better

man won on the day.

“I put everything into that semi-final

because my money went up if I got to

the final,” he noted. “So there was no

way I was getting beat. Money’s the

motivator.”

Along the way he did pick up a good

win over Ireland’s Sean McComb. “He

beat the World champion Russian the

fight before, so everyone expected me to

get beat off him. Everyone expected him

to win the competition after that. It was a

very good win for us,” Luke said. “Oh, he’ll

be out for revenge, but

he’ll not be getting it.”

At the World

championships in

Hamburg he met

another Olympic

bronze medallist, Artem

Harutyunyan. “The

German in Germany.

I think the crowd got

to us. I was boxing the

Olympic bronze medallist

and he was on all the posters in Germany.

I drew him in the second fight. I think

I tried too hard. I think I tried to knock

him out, rather than just outboxing him.

I was boxing with my heart rather than

my head. I got pulled into a fight rather

than trying to outbox him,” McCormack

recalled. “It was [literally] his hometown.

That was my first World championships,

it’s just a learning curve.”

FEELING THE FORCE

HERE was little

Christmas cheer for

Luke McCormack in

2017. He remained
      in training to make
      sure he can begin
      this year with a bang.
      He’ll go straight into a World Series of
      Boxing bout. “I’m boxing against France
      on February 1. I’ve kept myself in over
      Christmas. I’ve not being going out or
      anything. It’s the first time in my life
      I haven’t had a drink over Christmas.
      So hopefully it pays off,” Luke told
      Boxing News. “I’ve got my eyes on this
      year. I slipped up a couple of times, like
      qualifying for the Olympics.
      “I want to shine in WSB and I want to
      be Commonwealth gold medallist.”
      To be more precise he wants to win
      the Commonwealths at the same time
      as twin brother Pat, who boxes for GB at
      69kgs. Luke is currently the leading 64kgs
      Briton. “It would be a dream come true,
      me and my twin brother winning them.
      I don’t think it’s ever happened before,
      being Commonwealth Games gold
      medallists. So that’s the plan for this year,”
      Luke continued.

Luke McCormack is readying

himself for a powerful 2018

John

Dennen

@BoxingNewsJD

Amateur Editor

T

‘I TRIED

TO KNOCK

HIM OUT,

RATHER THAN

OUTBOXING

HIM’

STANDING OUT:

McCormack marches

into the World

championships

Photo: AIBA