MMA fighter Charlie Ward’s father speaks about the tragic loss of Joao Carvalho

"No way were those punches hard. No way was I hitting him hard."

That's what Charlie Ward's father told Irish radio on Tuesday afternoon in relation to how the SBG fighter explained his TKO finish of Joao Carvalho. Carvalho has since tragically passed away from injuries sustained in that bout at Dublin's National Stadium, and Charles Ward Snr. has revealed that his son's "mother is in bits" with the news. "He didn't go out to kill anyone," Ward Snr told RTE radio's Liveline programme. "He went out to win his fight, but the referee could have been in a bit quicker." Ward Snr. wasn't in attendance for the bout and, in fact, has never been to one of his son's fights. "I've never been to a fight," Ward Snr explained. "I just don't have an interest, to be honest with you. I was involved in boxing for years with him and I gave it up and I just don't have the interest any more." Ward Snr. insisted that, from what his son had told him, the strikes that ultimately brought an end to the bout were not as powerful as they may have appeared. "A child would have taken them, that's what he said," Ward Snr. continued. "(He said) 'I was stopping those punches because I knew I had him beaten.'"