McCormack is back. That’s Luke McCormack, not Pat.
Not only is one half of the formidable Washington boxing twins returning to the ring, he has a date for his debut – March 22 at the famous York Hall.
Queensberry this week announced the signing of the 28-year-old and posted a video of the former GB Boxing star in the gym with trainer Ben Davison.
It will be 31 long months since Luke last chucked a punch in anger – a terrific effort in defeat against Andy Cruz any the Olympic Games.
A points loss in the round of 16 to the Cuban, who went on to strike gold, was the last we have seen of the Sunderland-born fighter inside a ring.
“I’m ready to get in there and do the business,” a relaxed Luke explained on the Queensberry video put out on social media.
“I could have gone to any promoter, but I just feel that with Frank Warren that I know him on more of a personal level and I’m really excited to be a Queensberry fighter.
“You want to be a world champion, you want to be a big star in the sport, and when I finish as a boxer, I want to bet one of the big names in Britain.
“There are going to be some big nights ahead.”
A professional since December 2021, he went pro with Davison as his trainer and he is based in the 31-year-old coach’s HQ in Harlow, Essex.
It would be fair to say that you always thought Luke’s approach would be ideally suited to the paid ranks and Davison is adamant he’s got a winner and entertainer on his hands.
“This is going to one of the most exciting careers in British boxing history possibly,” said Davison.
“He is a wrecking ball – he cleans out guys who are weights and weights above him.
“He’s raw, he’s uncut, there are probably some people who like that and there are going to be some who are taken aback by that. “But either way, people are going to want to tune in for sure.”
Pat McCormack won many, many headlines and rightly so, for a career which has contained so much glory.
But Luke is more than just Pat’s twin.
He has operated at the highest level as an amateur and collected plenty of medals along the way.
Here is how Queensberry announced the news of Luke’s signing.
Luke won European Championship silver in Kharkiv, Commonwealth Games bronze in Australia and a gold at the European Union Championship in Valladolid.
In the opinion of Punch-lines, one of the former Birtley ABC star’s finest moments came when he struck gold at the Gee Bee tournament in Finland, in 2019, while he performed well at the Olympics in Japan, where he did not get any luck of the draw.
He joined a number of notable other boxers by turning pro with Probellum (along with brother Pat, of course) in December 2021, and was due to make his debut in April 2022 in Liverpool, only to be scrapped at the 11th hour for what was understood to be a medical problem.
Whatever the issue was, it clearly has been resolved and Luke McCormack, to pinch the words of Michael Buffer, is ready to rumble on March 22. We can’t wait.
Words: Roy Kelly
