Manchester - Tommy McCarthy successfully defended his European cruiserweight title for the first time by stopping Alexandru Jur in the sixth round, twice flooring him with body shots.

'Mac Attack' is now set to face Bournemouth's Commonwealth champion Chris Billam-Smith at Matchroom's next Fight Camp instalment this summer. 

“I’m delighted," McCarthy told Matchroom. "I got a few rounds in and a stoppage. I got everything that I wanted. We prepared for Jur to give me a good test. I don’t think he expected me to come out the way that I did. It threw him off a bit. I can’t complain.

"I thought it was all over after the first knockdown. Feinted to the head, left hook to the body and he went over. He went into survival mode after that. It was the same again with the next one. I’ve been working hard with my team all through camp. We’ve been doing all sorts of drills. We’ve been working on being explosive. The S and C training was all focused on me being explosive. I’m a hard puncher.

"Everything was perfect this camp – no injuries. I was driving them shots through him, it was great. The pandemic has been great for me, I’ve kept my head down, stayed in the gym and worked on my whole game. I hope everybody is buzzing back home in Belfast.

"I’ve got no problem fighting Chris Billam-Smith, it’s easy work. If this is the hurdle that I have to jump over for a world title fight, then so be it. Chris Billam-Smith, stop Tweeting about me, stop talking about me – we’ll see you at Fight Camp.”