Christmas Carroll – King Kong wins Prizefighter

JONO Carrol’s meteoric rise to prominence continued as he claimed victory in the career changing Prizefighter tournament on Saturday.

‘King Kong’ emulated Martin Rogan, Willie Casey, Mike Perez, and Eamonn O’Kane by lifting the Prizefighter trophy aloft.

The 22-year-old Irishman headed into the tournament as a three-fight novice, but has burst onto the domestic scene by winning an exciting installment of the competition live on Sky Sports.

Even more impressive, the Celtic Warrior Gym fighter, who is just recently returned from Australia, took two major scalps en route to final victory over Michael Devine.

Carroll now has former European champion Stephen Foster Jr and former Prizefighter winner and Commonwealth champion Gary Buckland on just a six fight record.

Carroll’s route to the decider could not have been tougher. He drew the tournament favourite, Stephen Foster, in the quarter-final but he came through the bout on points.

His semi-final with Gary Buckland was a bruising encounter with Buckland trying to use his superior brawn to grind down Carroll but who showed he can box as well as brawl, fought from range and won the fight on a split decision.

Michael Devine presented the opposition in the final. Carroll unloaded clusters of punches in the first round, catching his opponent with a decent right, and then a an eye-catching left hook.

Devine rattled home punches to the ribs in the second and tried to level the playing field. However, Finglas native , Carroll stood his ground and fired back.

Both men swapped punches in the final round as a gruelling night reached its conclusion, but Carroll applied the finishing touches with a crisp right counter.

His reward for a dominant final display a 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 win and a €40,000 cheque.