The message from Robert McNulty to the world’s top boxing promoters is loud and clear: “come and get me”.
“Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren or whoever wants me, let me know, because I'm there. Get me signed up,” says the 23-year-old.
McNulty, it is obvious, cannot wait to move into the professional boxing ranks. But that can, he insists, wait at least a couple of weeks because first, he has a more pressing matter to deal with, and that’s win a Commonwealth Games gold medal.
The Renfrewshire fighter has his sights set on making it to the very top of the boxing world and becoming Commonwealth Games champion will, the cruiserweight believes, be his next step towards achieving that goal.
“I'm telling you, remember the name Robert McNulty because you're going to see a gold medal from me,” he says.
“My style of boxing is I do a lot of showboating. But my looks are still there, because I don't take hits.
“I know not everybody likes my cockiness but if you're talking about guys like Eddie Hearn, they know I'll bring entertainment.
“Signing with the big promoters is the dream, but step by step snd so I'll make sure I’ll win that gold medal at the Commonwealth Games first.”
McNulty is, as he admits himself, arrogant. Indeed, he calls himself “pretty boy McNulty”. But he displays his cockiness in the most charming and appealing manner and there is more than a hint of a resemblance to 2014 Commonwealth Games boxing gold medallist, Charlie Flynn, who became a superstar, for a short while anyway, with his unique sayings and charismatic personality.
McNulty does, fortunately, have the boxing ability to back-up all his talk. He’s Scottish champion and a World Championship quarter-finalist and in just over a week’s time he will, he hopes, have added his name to the lengthy and exalted list of Scottish boxers who have won Commonwealth Games gold medals in recent years.
“At the last Commonwealth Games I watched Sean Lazzerini, Reese Lynch, Sam Hickey and others medalling at the Games so that's been my dream to do that too,” he says.
“I watched the Commonwealth Games when I was a wee boy when Charlie Flynn and Josh Taylor won gold in 2014 and ever since, I knew I wanted to be doing that too. That made me think, that’s where I want to be - top of the podium, with a gold medal.”
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McNulty is not, though, he admits, a natural hard worker. His success has been achieved despite the fact he does, he admits, covet a long-lie and, just occasionally, he needs a push to get himself up and out for training.
“My coach texts me in the morning saying, 'get out your bed and make sure you make training because you've got the Commonwealth Games around the corner’,” he laughs.
“People say to me, 'Robert, you're so confident, you're so talented,’ but hard work beats talent. You can be the most talented person in the world but if I don't put the hard work in, the results don't show. So I need to make sure I'm always getting out of my bed in the morning and doing my training.
“I can be really, really lazy, though - I love my bed, my bed's my best pal.
“In my ears, there’s the devil and the angel - the devil's telling me 'just lie-on in your bed' but the angel's saying 'get your running and your training done’.”
McNulty’s immediate focus is upon winning gold at Glasgow 2026 but he has already allowed his mind to wander to which path he’d like his career to follow post-Games. And that path, he’s unequivocal about, is turning pro, and most likely sooner rather than later.
And all the signs are that both in boxing terms and in personality terms, McNulty will be perfectly suited to the professional ranks which is why that’s his preferred direction rather than hang about in the amateurs and attempt to make it into Team GB for the 2028 Olympics.
“I can't wait to be standing up there and talking to the crowd, and just being me. This isn’t a front - it’s just me being me, just being cocky,” he says.
“My style is most suited to the pros, but I'll deal with the Commonwealth Games first and then I'll focus on become a professional at some point.
“It just depends what offers come in from promoters or management - I’m still young, 23 years old, and you don't see a lot of guys going pro until 25 or 26 so I've a few years yet, but I don't want to leave it too long.”
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