But earlier that evening inside the same ring, a teenage prodigy hoping to join that roll call added to his burgeoning reputation as one of the very hottest prospects in British boxing.

John Joe Carrigan (5-0, 5 KOs) maintained his perfect start to life in the pros by stopping Cheikh Diop (6-2, 4 KOs) in the fourth of their scheduled six-rounder at Manchester Arena.

It has been a rapid and impressive rise for the southpaw junior middleweight, who claimed gold at the Under-19 World Championship in November 2024. It was his performance there that put him on Finkel's radar, with a little help from Hutchinson himself.

“I think he asked Willy actually,” Carrigan tells The Ring. “I know he was asking about who's the next prospect and who's the next coming up. And somehow, luckily for me, my name got mentioned.”

It was a classic move from the Finkel playbook, given he had signed Hutchinson straight out of the amateurs after he claimed gold at the 2016 Youth World Championships in St. Petersburg, Russia. “I think it was the day after I won the final, when I landed in England, that I got the first call from him,” he said.

“At first I wasn’t sure who he was. It was an American saying they wanted to sign me. But I had some crazy people text me when I was at the Worlds to be fair, I wouldn't like to say names, but I had some people in my DMs. All the boxers did.”

Once Carrigan had determined who the voice on the other end of the line was, and was made aware of his credentials managing the likes of Mike Tyson, Deontay Wilder and many others, he decided to start listening.

“The first couple of phone calls, I was just putting it off,” he said. “I didn't have a clue who he was, but when I sat down and got told who he was, we arranged a chat and went from there.”

Carrigan had 74 amateur bouts but never boxed as a senior. Even so, he and his new manager decided the time was right to turn professional with Queensberry Promotions.

“I've always wanted to turn pro as soon as I was 18,” he said. “I felt like I was getting a little bit bored with the amateur scene. I was having fights and not getting out of first gear or entering box cups and championships and only having one fight in the final.”

By that point, he had been boxing for well over a decade after he had pushed for an early start in the amateur ranks, too.

“I first started boxing the day after my sixth birthday,” Carrigan said. “I was told when I was five that I had to wait until I was seven until I could start training. My cousin used to go so I’d just sit there and watch. “But then on my sixth birthday I was in McDonald’s and I saw the coach in there. It was then that I asked him if I could join now I was six. I don’t think he could say no really because it was my birthday so that’s where it all started.”

He does not turn 20 until April next year. By that point, he will have had another couple of outings and more than likely another couple of wins under his belt. Maybe then, 14 years on from the day he became a boxer, he might celebrate with a Happy Meal.