By Ian S Palmer
There’s a 12-round junior lightweight bout on tap in Manchester, England this Saturday, March 7th as Scott Quigg of Bury, England is set to meet Jono Carroll of Dublin, Ireland. The fight can be seen live in North America on DAZN while those in the UK can catch the action on Sky Sports. Carroll last fought in August when he beat Eleazar Valenzuela by a 10-round unanimous decision. Quigg’s last outing resulted in a second round stoppage of Mario Briones in October.
The 32-year-old Quigg may be best known for his unanimous decision loss to WBO Featherweight Champion Oscar Valdez of Mexico in March of 2018. That was Quigg’s second pro loss as the former
WBA Super Bantamweight Champion lost his title to Carl Frampton by close split decision in February of 2016. Quigg reportedly fought with a broken jaw from the fourth round on in that fight. He’ll enter the bout with a record of 25-2-2 with 26 Kos.
Quigg stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 67-inch reach. He turned pro back in 2007 and has fought 200 rounds since then. He’s got a fine chin even though he’s been dropped before and is also a solid puncher who currently owns a 66.7 per cent knockout ratio. Most North American fans won’t be familiar with Quigg’s other opponents though perhaps with the exception of Kiko Martinez as they’ve mainly been from Europe and Asia.
Quigg underwent hand surgery in the past but it didn’t show in his second-round stoppage of Martinez in July of 2015. Since turning pro he’s also captured the WBA Inter-Continental, British and interim WBA World Super Bantamweight Titles as well as the WBA International, and WBA Continental Featherweight Crowns. He’s gone 5-2-1 in world title bouts with 4 Kos and is 1-2 against former or current world champions with a Ko.
Carroll is a 27-year-old southpaw and climbs through the ropes with a mark of 17-1-1 with only 3 Kos. He turned pro back in 2012 and has boxed 122 rounds since then. He won the Lightweight Title in the British Prizefighter tournament in 2014 by beating Michael Devine. His other wins have been against the likes of Declan Geraghty, Gary Buckland, Stephen Foster and Barrington Brown. Carroll beat John Quigley by a 12-round split decision in 2017 to win the vacant IBF European Super Featherweight Title.
He then beat Humberto de Santiago by third-round TKO to capture the vacant IBF Inter-Continental Super Featherweight Crown and defended it against Geraghty by ninth-round stoppage. His biggest battle was against Tevin Farmer last March when Farmer still held the IBF Super Featherweight Title. Carroll put up a good fight but dropped a unanimous decision. He’s a very light puncher with just a 15.8 per cent knockout ratio. Carroll’s 5-feet-7-inches tall so gives up an inch in height to Quigg.
Prediction…
It’s hard to give Carroll a puncher’s chance here because he lacks power so he’s going to have to outwork and outbox Quigg and that’s a slight possibility. Carroll is going to have to be at his very best to earn a victory but I’m not expecting him to be able to pull it off as Quigg’s power and skills should be too much for him. This should be a rather close and entertaining fight though.
