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Eddie Hearn and Lou DiBella hail Jono Carroll following phenomenal Farmer effort


Jono Carroll [16(3)-1(0)-1] made people stand up and take notice last night.

The Dublin super featherweight put in a Herculean effort in his challenge of IBF champion Tevin Farmer and, while he did not win at the Liacuouras Center, he emerged from the night triumphant.

Carroll was beaten on a relatively wide unanimous decision by the Philadelphia home favourite but pushed for the entire twelve rounds, throwing over 100 punches a round, and refused to wilt when hurt in the eleventh.

Farmer [29(6)-4(2)-1] proved his class in the face of Carroll’s aggression but the relentless approach of the Irishman won favour alongside the champion’s slickness.

Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, who re-signed Carroll last year and is a co-promoter of Farmer, was blown away

“Jono Carroll was outstanding,” declared the English promoter.

“I had him two rounds down heading into the 11th and thought he had momentum but then Tevin won the last two.”

“He’s never really boxed at the level of Tevin Farmer before in his career and he stepped up and boxed at world level tonight and it was a world class performance from him”

“Jono did so well and couldn’t have tried any harder.”

Hearn anticipates more massive American nights for the charismatic Carroll and outlined how “I think he’s going to be a big star in America.”

“His stock has risen so much. He’s come over and put in an effort like that which was all-action.”

“He knows how to play the build-up but he’s always entertaining in the ring, the fans are going to love him”

These are the kind of nights you hope play out. It was one of those perfect nights.

DiBella, long-time promoter of Farmer, was also won over by the 26-year-old and made a point at the post-fight press conference to hail the challenger

“This guy should be proud and I told him that after the fight,” said the bombastic DiBella

“I’ve got an awful lot of respect for this guy.”

“He came in and executed the best he could. He didn’t get the decision but he earned the respect of the entire boxing world.”

“Anyone who say this fight and doesn’t respect this guy doesn’t know anything about the sport.”

So impressed was DiBella, he suggested that his own stable of fighters could learn from Carroll.

He explained how “I know what kind of fighter I have in Tevin Farmer but this gave a blueprint on what you do when you get a chance to fight for a World Title – you give 110% of what you have.”

“I’ve a lot of fighters that I want to watch his performance to know that if you go in there and do everything that you can do and you do the best that you can, there’s nothing else you can do.”

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Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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