Thomas Carty’s manager has accused David Allen of “blatantly” fouling his fighter and insists the English heavyweight should have been disqualified after their chaotic finish at Croke Park.
The Dublin heavyweight had waited his whole career for a night like this. Katie Taylor’s farewell, a heaving Croke Park, the home of Irish sport roaring under the lights. For Carty, it was supposed to be the launchpad, the statement win on a huge stage.
Instead, he ended up tumbling through the ropes in the first round, clutching the back of his head, and the bout was ruled a no contest.
‘Only one outcome under the rules’
The incident unfolded in the opening session on Saturday’s undercard. Carty, sharp behind the jab, quickly found Allen’s face and drew blood, a strong start that had his corner encouraged and the crowd sensing a breakthrough.
Then the fight turned ugly.
Twice in quick succession, Allen struck Carty to the back of the head, according to Carty’s manager Mike Ofo, with the second blow sending the Irishman spilling out between the ropes and onto the ring apron. Carty could not continue. The referee waved it off as a no contest.
Ofo did not hide his anger.
“What happened was plain for all to see with Allen blatantly fouling him twice in quick succession in response to Thomas’ punishing jab that immediately marked up Allen’s face,” he told Sky Sports.
“The second, illegal rabbit punch to the back of Thomas’ head knocked him clean through the ropes and there is only one outcome under the rules of boxing in those circumstances – a DQ loss for Allen.”
For Carty, it was a brutal twist. Last year, his only professional defeat came after a freak knee injury. Now, on the biggest stage of his career, another freak ending.
He left Croke Park without the win, without the defining performance, and with his team demanding the result be overturned.
Allen’s defence: ‘I’m not aiming for the back of anyone’s head’
Allen, speaking on his YouTube channel, offered a very different version of events.
He broke down the sequence: he stepped in close, landed a left hook to the body, then clipped Carty to the head. Carty, he said, fired back with a combination that snapped his head back with an uppercut. In the scramble, Allen claims, Carty grabbed at him and turned into the shot that followed.
“I’m not aiming for the back of anyone’s head ever, but I am aiming about here,” Allen said, gesturing to the ear. He described the punch as a short, clipping shot, not a heavy blow, insisting Carty’s movement turned it into a rabbit punch.
“It’s gone round the back of the head,” Allen admitted, but stressed there was no intent. Carty then fell through the ropes. Allen said he asked the referee, “Are you not going to count?” and argued that had the same sequence happened in the centre of the ring, he would have won by stoppage.
From his side, it was an unfortunate clash, not a deliberate foul.
‘Gaslighting’ and a call for the BUI to act
Ofo is having none of it.
“I see he is already busy trying to set a narrative but that is gaslighting,” he said, dismissing Allen’s explanation outright.
Ofo insists Carty and his team were convinced the fight would turn decisively their way in the later rounds, especially given the condition in which Allen arrived.
“Thomas and the team were all confident that he would have stopped Allen in the later rounds, particularly in light of the terrible shape Allen turned up in. Frankly, he should change his nickname from ‘The White Rhino’ to ‘The White Hippo.’”
The manager now wants the Boxing Union of Ireland to intervene, review the referee’s decision and upgrade the no contest to a disqualification win for Carty.
“Once the BUI have reconsidered the referee’s decision and done the right thing, we will happily give Allen a rematch and they can settle it once and for all – hopefully inside the ring this time!”
The message is clear: Carty’s camp want justice first, then they are ready to run it back.
Rematch talk and a career at a crossroads
For Carty, 30, the stakes are obvious. He sits on the brink of double figures in the paid ranks, chasing what would be his 12th professional victory. Nights like Croke Park are rare for Irish heavyweights. He cannot afford to let this one simply drift into the archive as a bizarre footnote.
A rematch with Allen now looms as both risk and opportunity: settle the controversy, restore momentum, and prove that those early exchanges were no accident.
Allen, who declined to comment on Ofo’s latest remarks, may yet find himself back across the ring from Carty with more than just pride on the line – and with a governing body’s ruling hanging over the first, chaotic chapter of their rivalry.
