IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS
Jono Carroll tells Matt Bozeat about his love IRU ĆJKWLQJ DQG KLV ZLIHÈV ORYH IRU KLV EHDUG
The best beard in boxing and the fighting milkman are under the glare
IF Jono Carroll had his way, fights would still be over 15 rounds. Better still, there would be no rounds at all.
“I’m an old-school fighter,” said the wild-eyed Dubliner with the best beard in boxing when he talked to Boxing News.
“I like to have a fight. I don’t want to tap and run away.
“You see those fights in fields that go on for hours, I love that, the idea of a fight to the death, of fighting until you drop.”
That’s sort of how the 26-year-old southpaw approaches his fights anyway and so far during his pro career, his appetite for fighting has outlasted his opponent’s.
He’s won all 16 fights and June’s brutal nine-round beatdown of Declan Geraghty in their much-anticipated rematch keeps Carroll highly placed in the IBF rankings.
The first meeting of the Dublin super-featherweights was a filthy brawl in November, 2014, won by Carroll after Geraghty was slung out in the fourth and final round.
For the bookmakers, that fight, and what happened in the following three-and-a-half years, didn’t dissuade them from believing Geraghty was the better man and he went into their return as a betting favourite.
“People were saying he was a better boxer than me, that he would outclass me,” said Carroll. “I wanted to make a statement and I think I did. I’m my own biggest critic and that was the first time I’ve ever been happy with the way I boxed.”
The win was comprehensive. All three judges gave Geraghty the opening round – and Carroll everything after that as, ignoring cuts around both eyes and on his hairline that would later require 11 stitches and seven staples to repair, he set about Geraghty’s lean body with a maniacal relish.
“I got a cut in the fourth week of sparring, so we had to do lots of body sparring,” said Carroll. “That worked in my favour.
“The game plan was to let him run and burn up nervous energy in the early rounds, not throw too much myself, but bang a few hard ones into his body. After the second round, I knew I had him.” To ringsiders, it came as some surprise that Geraghty lasted as long as he did, the referee finally pulling Carroll off him in the ninth round.
“I could have stepped it up earlier,” said Carroll, “but after everything that had been said [in the buildup to the fight], I wanted to punish him. It was fun for me. I enjoyed watching him wince in pain.’’ There are two Jono Carrolls. There’s the one who enjoys punishing whoever’s in front of him – and there’s the other Carroll, the gregarious, ever-smiling one who can’t turn down a request for a selfie.
“The amount of messages I’ve received [since the Geraghty fight] has been crazy,” he said. “There have been hundreds and slowly but surely, I’m getting round to replying to everyone.” So what makes him such a fans’ favourite? “I’m real, I’m not fake,” he said. “I’m confident enough in my own skin to be myself and speak my mind. People react to that.
“They see I’m a family man who loves boxing – and I take time out to have my
I COULD HAVE STEPPED IT UP EARLIER. I WANTED TO PUNISH HIM. IT WAS FUN FOR ME. I ENJOYED WATCHING HIM WINCE IN PAIN”
I WOULD WATCH OLD-SCHOOL FIGHTERS LIKE JACK DEMPSEY AND THAT’S HOW I THOUGHT BOXING SHOULD BE. I’VE ALWAYS LOVED FIGHTING”
picture taken and reply to every message I get. I genuinely don’t care if people think I’m crazy. I’m just being me.” The question the free-spirited Carroll is being asked now is, what’s next? The answer is: “I don’t care who’s next. I will jump at it.”
There’s been talk of a possible match with Lyon Woodstock Jnr and given that Carroll went into the Geraghty rematch ranked No 7 by the IBF, there’s also the possibility of a world-title eliminator.
“I’m not far away,” he said. “Maybe one or two fights…”
Whoever he faces next, Carroll is sure to test their chin, fitness and desire to fight. Carroll is full of energy, full of fight.
“Most people don’t enjoy fighting,” he said, “but I always have.
“Growing up, I was always fighting my uncles. I was tiny and they were huge. They would toss me around, but I kept coming back for more!
“We would watch old-school fighters together like Jack Dempsey and that’s how I thought boxing should be.
“I’ve always loved fighting, always loved boxing.” Carroll pursued his passion at an amateur gym run by his father, Vernon.
“I messed about with my da at the gym when I was young,” said Jono. “I would half spar him and when I got to 15, I wanted to start competing.
“My mother passed away ([n a car crash] and I was in a rut. Boxing gave me something to focus on and I won the all Irelands in my second year.”
Progress slowed when, at 18, Carroll broke his hand in a charity fight.
“After that, I went out partying and got involved in some tit for tats that didn’t do my hand any good,” is how he recalled the next couple of years.
Carroll reassessed, decided he was going nowhere and, never one for half measures, he packed his bags and headed to Australia.
“I wasn’t working, all my friends were in college and I thought: ‘I need to get out and get a life’,” he said. “That’s why I went to Australia.
“I got work over there and found a boxing gym. I sparred a pro when I wasn’t fit and I bashed him. It was quite easy. The coach said: ‘You could turn pro.’”
Carroll had two fights in Australia – 12 months apart – before returning home.
“My da said: ‘Why don’t you go to Paschal Collins’ gym?’” said Carroll.
“I wasn’t thinking of making a career out of boxing, I just went there because I enjoy it.
“I was sparring Stephen Ormond, doing OK and asked Paschal to take me on and he said: ‘No.’ He said he had enough fighters. “Paschal got a phone call one day asking: ‘Have you got anyone for [Declan] Geraghty? The winner goes in ‘Prizefighter.’’ We had a talk about it and decided: ‘Let’s do it.’”
Carroll got the victory over Geraghty and
THE QUIGLEY FIGHT WAS TWO UNBEATEN FIGHTERS WITH GOOD FUTURES IN FRONT OF THEM FIGHTING EACH OTHER. I HAVEN’T LOOKED BACK”
three weeks later, he won ‘Prizefighter’ too, with points victories over Stephen Foster, Gary Buckland and Michael Devine at the York Hall. What looked like lift off for Carroll, wasn’t. “It was hard to get people to fight me,” he said. “If you had a title why would you risk it against someone who has only got six fights behind them? I wasn’t even a big name. I was getting offered fights at two weeks’ notice and I knew if I didn’t take them I probably wouldn’t fight again for another six months.
“I was fighting four and six rounders every six months for poor money.
“I had a baby on the way and started to work as a tree surgeon because I wasn’t making any money out of boxing.”
Carroll says everything changed when he joined MTK around 18 months ago. They got his career moving and set up a fight with stablemate John Quigley last June that Jono remembers as a turning point.
“That fight put me on the map,” is how he thinks of his split points win over the classy Scouse switcher.
“I believe fighters want to fight each other and sometimes, their managers and trainers hold them back,” said Carroll.
“The Quigley fight was two unbeaten fighters with good futures in front of them fighting each other. I won – and haven’t looked back. Now I’m getting the fights I need. I’m getting 10 weeks’ notice for fights and it feels like a team effort.”
There’s been a change in the team since the win over Quigley, with Carroll relocating to Spain to train with former pro Albert Ayrapetyan.
“The change only came about because Danny [Vaughan] was training in Scotland and I didn’t want to move there,” explained Carroll. “I wanted to move to Spain. “I get better sparring over there, fighters who will push me on, and the lifestyle is better.”
Carroll says he’s happily settled in Spain with fiancée Gemma and their young daughter, Fiadh.
“It’s Irish for wild deer,” explained Carroll of his 16-month-old’s name, “and that’s exactly what she is!” Fiadh sounds like she takes after her father, who says he won’t be shopping for a razor anytime soon. “My da used to say to me: ‘It’s no use just fighting, you need to entertain, you need to put bums on seats,’” said Carroll, “but I didn’t grow my beard to get noticed. “I just hate shaving!
“My hair is thick and when I have a shave, it takes skin off my face!
“It wasn’t supposed to be a big beard, but I just grew it and grew it and I started liking it. My missus loves it too and I thought: ‘I will have to keep it.”