When Terry McCormack speaks about Scottish boxing it is always worth listening.
A former coach of Alex Arthur who also sent Josh Taylor on his way to become undisputed world champion, the founder and head coach of Edinburgh’s famous Lochend BC is now working closely with Matty McHale and believes great things like ahead for the super-flyweight.
McHale’s star is undoubtedly on the rise. After a productive amateur career that culminated with a Commonwealth Games bronze, the 28-year-old is now taking significant strides in the professional game, lifting the Commonwealth Silver title in just his sixth contest at the St Andrew’s Sporting Club in June.
McHale was set to defend that belt tonight on a stacked ‘Gladiators’ show at the Playsport Arena in East Kilbride until a late call-off not of his making, stalling what was expected to be the next step on a journey that McCormack believes has the potential to go all the way to the top.
McCormack remembers taking a 16 year-old Taylor under his wing and helping mould him into one of Scotland’s greatest ever boxers and he sees echoes of that desire and will to succeed in McHale.
“When Matty first came in the door he was maybe 12 or 13 years old,” he recalls. “We’ve got a desk here that’s maybe four feet high and he couldn’t even see over the top of it!
"I believe he was at some other clubs before he came here and wasn’t doing too well. But we’ve reached that point now where he’s a massive prospect. In the amateurs Matty was big and rangy and you had to try and use that. You can’t sit down on your punches, you have to land more punches on target than the other guy.
“Since he turned professional I’ve got him more planting his feet, sitting down on his shots and landing good quality shots and then moving, always in his boxing stance. We had to work on his stamina for going up to 10 rounds as compared to three rounds before. But it’s all coming together and he’s looking like a good all-rounder as a pro.
“He’s actually like working with a Josh Taylor. I’d put him in the same bracket. He’s really committed, gives 100 percent, is a delight to work with and is always in the gym, doing two or three sessions today.
“I took him to America to train and when we were over there he showed me that he can go a long way in the game. He was sparring top-class guys and I know he got their respect, just from speaking to Freddie Roach and a lot of the coaches there. It really cemented the feeling that he’s got a big future in the game.”
McHale’s burgeoning reputations is both a blessing and a curse, with many of the leading fighters in the division seemingly reluctant to get into the ring with him.
McCormack added: “We’re trying to persuade one of those at the sharp end of the Commonwealth or the British to give us a crack for one of the titles. We’ll just keep plugging away until we get the opportunity.
“It was great that he got that Commonwealth silver strap but I believe he’s ready for the full Commonwealth title now. We took the belt that was available when that opportunity came up and Matty did what we expected of him. And now we’ll look to move on.
“It looks none of the top guys will come to Scotland to fight Matty so it looks like we’ll have to go abroad if we want to compete for the Commonwealth title.
“But Matty can adapt quickly; he can fight inside, he can fight long, he can punch, he can be slick or he can be horrible. So we don’t really have any worries.”
Taylor joined the professional ranks when he was 24 year old and McCormack believes McHale is another who can benefit from a similarly later arrival.
He added: “It’s the same as Josh who turned over late. It means you can really throw yourself into your first six or seven pro fights because you’ve had that many hard fights at the major amateur championships.
“That lets you start as a pro at the higher end of the scale, not fighting bums like you see with some guys. Matty has been calling out champs after his fourth or five fight as that’s the level he’s at with the pedigree he’s got.
“He’s 28 but you only need two years in the pros to see what you’ve got and how far you can go. In the next two years hopefully Matty will get a British or Commonwealth title and that takes him up to 30.
“And at that point he’s got three years at the top to chase European and world titles. And that’s a long time. If he gets a world title by 33 and you live as well as Matty does, then there’s no reason why you can’t keep going for another two years after that to defend the major honours.
“Sometimes it’s just about luck and how everything falls into place. You need the stars to align and get the right fights at the right time. That’s what happened for Josh and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be the same for Matty, 100 percent.”
