Shortty Carroll – “People will see the best of me over the longer rounds”

With a first belt won and eight rounds done Stephen Carroll [5(1)-0] is ready to move to the next level.

In just his fifth fight in Belfast last night, Shortty made a step up, and is now hoping to continue climbing after a career-best win.

The Celtic Nations light welterweight victory and eight round points win over Jamesy Gorman [8(3)-30(3)-1] makes the 24 year old Irish title eligible. While he wasn’t keen to name drop, electing to take the ‘I’ll box who I’m told’ route, Caroll did suggest he is ready to move up a level.

“That’s a title and eight rounds in the bag. I can move on to bigger and better things. I can kick on from here. I will leave who and what is next to Tony [Davitt]. I fight who they say is next, but it’s progress,” Carroll told Irish-Boxing.com from the away dressing room before expressing his delight with the title win over Irish opposition.

“I am delighted. It is great to win a title. It was a good fight he is a tough fighter and I felt okay in there from start to finish.”

The Ballyfermott native wasn’t as aggressive or battle hungry as his previous pro ventures, but he explained the upgrade in rounds and the fact he was fighting a fighter that is rarely stopped forced him into consulting his skill set more.

The Ballyfermot man knew he was never going to chin the fighter know as ‘The Chin,’ so he focused on doing enough to win rounds rather than trying to force a knockout.

“He doesn’t get stopped. I knew he was tough so I wasn’t loading up. I seen videos of him and no one gets him out of there. Plus it was my first eight rounder so I did just box a bit and didn’t really throw big shots. I didn’t over do it early because of the eight, but I was grand finishing.”

Shortty also thinks the longer format suits him.

“I think people will see the best of me over the longer rounds and against better opposition. I felt sharp in the warm up and I was ready to start strong, but for some reason I still took a little time to get going. That just seems to be the way, so the more rounds the better.”