Thomas Carty's Manager Demands Disqualification for David Allen
Thomas Carty’s manager has launched a fierce attack on the handling of the Irish heavyweight’s chaotic clash with David Allen at Croke Park, insisting the Englishman should have been disqualified for “blatant” fouls in a finish that stunned the home crowd.
The fight, part of the undercard for Katie Taylor’s farewell night at the home of Irish sport, lasted barely a round but left a long trail of anger. Carty, fighting in front of a huge Dublin audience on what was billed as the biggest stage of his career, was sent tumbling through the ropes after a shot to the back of the head and was unable to continue.
The referee called it a no contest. Mike Ofo wants it called something else entirely.
“Only one outcome under the rules”
Ofo, Carty’s manager, believes the officials failed to apply the rulebook in the most basic way.
“What happened was plain for all to see,” he told Sky Sports, accusing Allen of fouling Carty twice in quick succession as the Irishman began to find his range with a stiff jab that quickly marked up Allen’s face.
“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.”
The scene itself was jarring. Carty, 30, had started sharply, feeding off the noise inside Croke Park. Then came the scramble on the inside, the shot behind the head, and suddenly the Dubliner was spilling out between the ropes, the arena falling into a stunned hush as medics moved in.
For a fighter who already knows too much about bad luck – his only professional defeat came after a freak knee injury last year – it felt like another cruel twist.
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 described closing the distance, landing a left hook to the body and then clipping Carty to the head. Carty, he said, fired back with a combination and an uppercut that snapped Allen’s head back, before the pair became entangled.
“But then he grabbed me frantically,” Allen said. “I’m not aiming for the back of anyone’s head ever, but I am aiming about here,” he added, pointing to the ear.
“It wasn’t a big shot; I tried to clip him round the ear as I always do, and he’s turned his head into it. It’s gone round the back of the head.
“From there on, I don’t know. It’s not for me to say what’s happened… I’ve caught him behind the head, not on purpose; he’s turned into, and he’s gone through the ropes.
“At the time, I said to the referee, ‘Are you not going to count?’ If that was in the middle of the ring, I’d have won by stoppage.”
Allen’s view is simple: accidental contact, unfortunate outcome, and potentially a stoppage win denied by the geography of the ring.
“Gaslighting” and a call for the BUI to step in
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 and insisting Carty was on course to win by late stoppage.
In Ofo’s eyes, the pattern of the fight – brief as it was – told its own story. He pointed to the success of Carty’s jab and took a swipe at Allen’s conditioning on the night.
“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 review the referee’s decision and upgrade the no contest to a disqualification defeat for Allen. That, he argues, is the “right thing” under the rules given the nature and location of the final punch.
Rematch on the table – but on different terms
For Carty, the official result currently reads as a no contest, not the signature win he had dreamed of on a landmark night for Irish boxing. Yet the fallout has already opened the door to a return.
Ofo insists that once the BUI have reconsidered the decision, Team Carty will gladly run it back with Allen.
“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!”
Carty, sitting on 11 professional wins and still chasing momentum after injury and misfortune, now finds his path intertwined with Allen’s again. The controversy at Croke Park may have cut short his crowning night, but it has also lit the fuse for a rematch that will arrive with a sharper edge, a thicker rulebook, and far less room for interpretation.
Allen, for now, has declined to respond to Ofo’s latest broadside. The next word may not come from either camp, but from the BUI – and that ruling will shape what this bizarre night becomes in the story of both heavyweights.
