Undefeated super middleweight prospect Tommy “The Governor” Hyde (8-0, 5 KOs) captured his first title as a professional this past Saturday night on St. Patrick’s Day Eve, outside of San Francisco at Fox Theater in Redwood City, California.
The 24-year-old Hyde, fighting out of Cork, dethroned defending champion Craig “BTL” McCarthy (10-2-1, 2 KOs), to take the Boxing Union of Ireland Celtic Super Middleweight Champion belt in the fifth round on a card presented by Westside Promotions.
“It’s always a great feeling to win but winning with a title on the line and bringing it home makes that feeling even better,” Hyde said. “I’m happy with my performance. I didn’t waste any shots and felt dominant.
“It was unreal to finally fight in San Francisco. I have made a lot of friends here and made a lot more this week. I’ll definitely fight here again.”
Hyde was comfortable from the opening bell, establishing his range in round one, and then controlling the action with slick counter-punching. McCarthy started to break down and was floored in the second round. Hyde pounded his tough opponent, nearly stopping him at the end of rounds three and four, before he closed the show 30-seconds into round five when referee David Irvine widely halted the action.
In the end, Hyde was simply too big, strong, young and talented for McCarthy to handle.
“This was probably my best performance so far,” Hyde noted. “I fought a tough opponent and won the fight convincingly. I trained very hard for this fight, and I think that showed under the lights.
A celebrated Irish amateur boxer, Hyde participated in more than 100 amateur matches, reached the quarterfinals of the prestigious World Junior Championships in 2015, in addition to capturing three Irish National Championships, three Celtic Cup titles and the 2019 Haringey Box Cup.
Tommy’s father, international boxing manager Gary Hyde, commented: “I am very proud of my son Tommy’s performance on Saturday night. Tommy fought intelligently, hurting his opponent continuously before closing the show at the beginning of the fifth round. Tommy is officially the number 1 super middleweight in Ireland so the Boxing Union of Ireland will decide who he will fight for the vacant Irish Super middleweight title.”
Tommy “The Governor” Hyde is bringing home his new Celtic belt with visions of adding more hardware in 2024 to his collection.
“Winning the Celtic title makes me the mandatory for the Irish title and I’d love to go for that next,” Hyde concluded. “I want to keep picking up titles while I’m developing as a professional and the Irish title is definitely one I want around my waist.”
