Tevin Farmer Topples Jono Carroll to Retain IBF Junior Lightweight Title

A Back & Forth Brawl!#FarmerCarroll pic.twitter.com/xi9fjMXaTr

— DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) March 16, 2019

It wasn't quite as lopsided as the official scores indicated, but Tevin Farmer retained his IBF junior lightweight championship belt nevertheless.

Farmer (29-4-1, 6 KOs) controlled the majority of the pace with challenger Jono Carroll, though the Irishman made things difficult for the champion throughout. Carroll (16-1-1, 3 KOs) forced Farmer into a slugfest repeatedly in the 12-round affair, with many of the stanzas nearly too close to call. Carroll was the busier of the two, but Farmer landed the cleaner, more definitive punches during the plentiful exchanges. With the fight seemingly up for grabs in the championship rounds, it was the champ who landed the hardest blow of the brawl. "American Idol" cracked Carroll with a sharp right to the jaw in the 11th, wobbling him with it. The Philadelphian tried closing out his foe but "The Celtic Warrior" survived and hung on until the final bell. In the end, two ringside judges saw it 117-111 for Farmer, while the third had it 117-110; Sherdog.com had it 116-112 for Farmer.

In the DAZN-televised co-feature inside Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Ireland's Katie Taylor improved to 13-0 by scoring her sixth professional knockout when she stopped Rose Volante in a women's lightweight world title unification bout. Taylor dropped Volante with a sizzling right to the head in the first and then picked the Brazilian apart with masterful punching for the next several rounds. Taylor finally put an end to the beating by pounding on Volante (14-1, 8 KOs) with a barrage of punches until referee Benjy Esteves intervened at 1:40 of the ninth. The win allowed Taylor to walk out of the ring with the WBA, WBO and IBF 135-pound belts.