Jono Carroll set to land St Patrick’s Weekend WORLD TITLE FIGHT in America

Jono Carroll [16(3)-0-1] is set to have a world title fight confirmed for his next outing.

The Dublin super featherweight drew with Guillaume Frenois in a final eliminator last weekend in Sheffield which looked as though it may have temporarily stalled his plans for a grudge match with champion Tevin Farmer.

With Frenois ranked higher, the Frenchman will be given first option on a mandatory fight with Farmer next time out – however, his team have indicated that they would be willing to work with Carroll’s team to ensure both fighters get a guaranteed shot at the belt.

An agreement looks to have been largely reached now and Frenois will step aside to allow Carroll a shot at Farmer next, assumedly with veteran Frenois to fight the winner immediately afterwards.

Philly’s Farmer [27(7)-4(2)-1] defended his belt for a second time last night in New York, outclassing Costa Rican Francisco Fonseca in a voluntary at Madison Square Garden.

Afterwards, Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, who promotes both Farmer and Carroll, outlined his plans for 2019.

The fight boss intends to run a show headlined by Farmer in Philadelphia on St Patrick’s Weekend and plans to have Carroll in the opposition corner in the City of Brotherly Love.

“Next it will be a home town defence in March, then it will be a mandatory defence,” Hearn said before responding to questions as to who would man the away corner for the return home.

“Quite possibly Jono Carroll, he drew in the final eliminator. These guys [Carroll and Farmer] have a nice thing going on social media and the weekend we will look to go will probably be St Patrick’s weekend so Tevin at home in Philly against an Irish man would probably work out.”

Hearn, who has also suggested WBA-IBF lightweight champ Katie Taylor will fight on the same date in a unification versus WBO titlist Rose Volante, revealed the show should be confirmed as early as next week and it seems Carroll could be handed an early Christmas present by being confirmed as the challenger.

Farmer, since defeating Aussie veteran Billy Dib in August to claim the belt, has been an extremely active champion, stopping James Tennyson in October and beating Fonseca last night.

“He wants to fight all the champions,” said Hearn of ‘The Americn Idol’.

“But first thing;s first we want to take Tevin home to Philadelphia in March. We will announce that show next week.”

“He has been on the road. He had to go Australia to fight for the title, he went to Boston, now to New York and he needs two or three weeks off. He is probably the most active world champion in boxing right now.”

We will announce his Philly return for March next week.”

As Hearn noted, Farmer has been engaged in numerous back-and-forths with fellow southpaw Carroll.

The bearded Irishman has been climbing steadily through the ranks and took a major step up last week versus Frenois and will leap several levels again in March if Hearn’s plan comes to fruition.

Should the fight come off, it adds to an already major weekend for Irish boxing, with Belfast feather Mick Conlan set to return to Madison Square Garden while a major card with a number of Irish names looking likely in Boston.