TILBURY’S Matt McCarthy has his sights set on the English title after putting on the best performance of his career on Saturday night.

The 21-year-old welterweight dominated the Bulgarian Stanislav Nenkov over eight rounds at London’s famous York Hall, overwhelmingly winning 80-72 on points.

It was McCarthy’s first eight round fight and he said he could have gone on to “fight 15 rounds if needed”.

“I was non-stop throughout,” said McCarthy. “I won every round against an opponent who came in with a winning record and was meant to be tough.

“But the truth was the build-up to the fight in camp was harder than the actual fight itself.

“I was faster than him, I had the power too. I didn’t struggle to make the weight and I felt really good.

“I was not even out of breath in the last few rounds.”

McCarthy says this is all evidence that he is ready to move his career on to the next level.

He has one more eight-round fight scheduled for York Hall in June before he expects to get a shot at the soon-to-be-vacant English title.

“That’s what I want and I feel I am ready for it now,” said McCarthy.

“But there are lots of good fights out there for me. I will fight whoever is put in front of me.

“I don’t care who they are, what reputations they have or what their records say, I’ll fight them.”

* McCarthy thanked his sponsors Wyatt Contractors and AEM Demolition.