‘King Kong’ Confident Lewis Knows Where he Went Wrong – Carroll Gives Young Pro Advice

Ireland’s youngest pro Cain Lewis goes into his first fight since he endured an Ulster Hall draw with advice from fromer world title challenger Jono Carroll ringing in his ear.

Carroll [20(5)-2(0)-1] shared a few words of wisdom with Lewis [1-0-1] after not so ideal – although not disastrous – result last time out.

Former world title challenger Carroll has a direct link to the young prospect, who drew with Juan Yin [4-0-2] after being dropped twice in the round 1, considering the teen is trained by his father Vernon Carroll, so ‘King Kong’ had a post-fight ‘chat’ with the Navan native.

The southpaw – who himself had to learn on the job having fought Declan Geraghty in just his third fight and becoming Prizefighter Champion by fight number six – isn’t panicked, rather believes Lewis was just a victim of inexperience in what was just his second-ever adult fight.

Carroll, who fights in Dubai on March 18, suggests the new to the game pro got caught up with the crowd and didn’t have any respect for the potential power of the undefeated Spaniard.

“I got in touch with Cain the day after his fight, I had a little chat with him,” Carroll explains when speaking to Irish-boxing.com.

“These things can happen to anybody. He didn’t know what it was like to get hit by a man with eight-ounce gloves on. In this boxing game, you need to forget about the crowd and focus on your game. Basically, I told him these things can happen to anybody.

“I told him not to feed into the crowd and just stick to your boxing. When he boxed we got to see the skills he had,” he adds before he revealed he advised the youngster to ease his way into fights and feel out the power of all opponents.

“I told him to catch a few shots on the gloves, you can’t just rush in there, this isn’t the amateurs it’s not about getting points it’s not like that. I don’t even rush in in sparring because I know what it’s like. There are fighters out there with serious power you always have to be conscious of that. It doesn’t matter what your opponent’s record is you always have to be on the ball and box to your strengths.”

They are wise words from the world title hopeful and it’s a kind gesture. However, it’s not advice he believes he needed to give the fighter who learnt from the experience.

“I gave him a few words of wisdom but he already knew in his own head what he did wrong. People can tell you so many things in this sport but if you don’t go through them yourself you don’t learn. The best learning is done the hard way because they are lessons you never forget,” he adds before predicting Lewis will be stronger for the experience.

“Cain learnt a hard lesson very early on in his career and I know for a fact he won’t be rushing in again and he’ll bounce back strong from this.”