Fighter of the Week (3-13/3/19): Pat McCormack
Saturday afternoon, or Saturday night if you're in the UK, featured a car chock-full of Matchroom Prospects. It showcased the future of Matchroom Boxing and if you are Eddie Hearn you are thrilled with what you saw. None of those prospects shined brighter on the big stage than Olympic Silver Medalist Pat McCormack. The 27-year-old from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, UK was supposed to be taking what was a major step up against fringe Italian contender Dario Socci. Socci had upended promising prospects like Giorgi Umekashvili, however the 27-year-old McCormack is another tier altogether and he proved that he is levels ahead. In just his fourth pro fight McCormack destroyed and outclassed the warrior from Italy. Forcing the referee to throw in the towel in the fourth on his way to moving his record ro 4-0 (3) pass the biggest test of his young career by far, put the rest of the 147-pound division on notice and capture our Fighter of the Week award for the first time. In a career that will probably deliver him many of these awards.
If McCormack came up just short on the biggest stage of his career, the Tokyo Olympic Games, a points loss to Cuban Amateur sensation, Roniel Iglesias, McCormack was determined not to drop the ball on his biggest stage as a pro. The silver medalist put on the best performance of his career in his so-called step up fight. McCormack put on a show and passed the eye test with flying colors. The Brit boxed beautifully off his back foot early and tagged the Italian with his jab and right hands and he slowly stepped on the gas and began walking his man down. Firing off beautifully three punch combinations and wearing down Socci! He began staggering Socci in the sixth who went full on into survival mode. Trying to run at the clock Socci mustered up zero offense as McCormack put together one more rally to get his stubborn Italian foe out. He tagged Socci with a right hand left hood combo that brought the referee in to call the bout off at 2:12 of the eighth of the final round. With under a minute to go McCormack secured the stoppage victory to move to 4-0 (3)
The welterweight division has seamlessly transitioned from era to era. Not long ago the Thurman, Garcia, Spence, Porter, Crawford era was ushered in as they began to age out. The new era of great welterweights has arrived. An era led by Vergil Ortiz, Boots Ennis, Conor Benn and Pat McCormack. That list is not complete without McCormack. He is ready for a major step up given the performance against Socci. he is ready for the likes of Michael McKinson or perhaps a Maurice Hooker or Blair Cobbs, someone of that magnitude. McCormack is just four fights in but he is already 27-years-old gifted and skilled beyond belief and now with this latest win battle tested, with a win against one of the mentioned names followed up be another name at that tied at the end of 2023 he could potentially be in position to fight for a world title in 2024.
