Carty vs Allen: Controversial No Contest at Croke Park

The chaos at Croke Park on Saturday night was supposed to be the making of Thomas Carty. Instead, it has left his team demanding justice and David Allen at the centre of a storm.

On the undercard of Katie Taylor’s farewell fight, Carty walked into the home of Irish sport with a chance to crown the early part of his career. He walked out through the ropes in the most literal, brutal sense.

Dropped in the first round by a shot to the back of the head, tumbling out of the ring and unable to continue, the Irish heavyweight saw his night reduced to a “no contest”. His manager, Mike Ofo, insists that verdict is an insult to both the rules and the occasion.

“Blatant” foul, wrong outcome

For Ofo, there is no grey area.

“What happened was plain for all to see,” he told Sky Sports, accusing Allen of “blatantly fouling him twice in quick succession” after Carty’s jab had started to mark up the Englishman’s face.

The second shot – a rabbit punch to the back of the head – sent Carty spilling through the ropes. Under the rules, Ofo argues, the conclusion should have been automatic.

“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.”

Instead, with Carty unable to continue, the referee called it a no contest. No winner, no loser, no closure.

For a 30-year-old who had already endured a freak knee injury in his only professional defeat, it felt like another cruel twist. This was meant to be his night: a heavyweight from Dublin, fighting at Croke Park, on the biggest Irish boxing stage in years. He ended it dazed, disappointed and out of the ring.

Allen’s defence: “I’m not aiming for the back of anyone’s head”

Allen has offered his own version of events. Speaking on his YouTube channel, the Doncaster heavyweight tried to explain the chaotic finish from his perspective.

“I went up a bit close, caught him with a left hook to the body and rattled him a little bit to the head,” he said, describing the exchange that led to the foul.

“I think, then he threw a combination, knocked my head back with an uppercut.

“But then he grabbed me frantically. I’m not aiming for the back of anyone’s head ever, but I am aiming about here [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, Allen said, it was out of his hands.

“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.”

In his eyes, it was an unfortunate clash, not a deliberate foul. In Ofo’s eyes, that explanation is spin.

“Gaslighting” and a call for a DQ

Ofo has no time for Allen’s framing of the incident.

“I see he is already busy trying to set a narrative but that is gaslighting,” he said, dismissing any suggestion that Carty was the architect of his own downfall.

For Carty’s camp, the pattern of the opening round told its own story. They believe their man had already started to break Allen down with the jab, and that the Englishman was struggling badly with the pace and the occasion.

“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,” Ofo added, before landing a verbal shot of his own.

“Frankly, he should change his nickname from ‘The White Rhino’ to ‘The White Hippo.’”

Behind the barbs sits a clear demand: the Boxing Union of Ireland should overturn the referee’s call and award Carty a disqualification win.

“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!”

Rematch on the horizon

Strip away the anger and the insults and a simple truth remains: both men still have business with each other.

Carty, chasing what would be his 12th professional victory, wants the result corrected and the chance to finish the job properly. Allen, who insists the foul was accidental, has already hinted that if the fight had unfolded in the centre of the ring, he’d be celebrating a stoppage win.

The controversy has turned what was meant to be a showcase into a grudge. The first meeting ended with Carty crashing through the ropes and the referee waving it off. The second, if it comes, will not lack edge.

Allen has declined to respond to Ofo’s latest comments. His silence only deepens the sense that the next word between these two heavyweights will not be spoken. It will be thrown.