Declan Geraghty questions talents of Jono Carroll ahead of rematch
Declan Geraghty has hit back at Jono Carroll after his Dublin featherweight rival reopened their verbal battle ahead of the pair’s highly-anticipated rematch at the SSE Odyssey Arena this weekend.
The southpaw duo fight for Carroll’s IBF Inter-Continental title on the Mick Conlan homecoming undercard and ‘King Kong’ threw the first shots of fight week earlier today, labelling Geraghty ‘two-faced’.
The Finglas-Dunshaughlin puncher blasted the inner-city Dub, claiming he was asked by Geraghty to cool their war of words following their sensational first fight – only for ‘Pretty Boy’ to claim he was winning the contest just days later.
READ: Jono Carroll blasts ‘two-faced’ Declan Geraghty
The two met in a four-round swing bout on the ‘Return of the Mack’ card at the 3Arena in Dublin in November 2014, going toe-to-toe in a clash that was named the Irish Fight of the Year and which saw Geraghty disqualified in the final round for a headbutt comitted seconds after he was docked a point for an elbow.
Geraghty [17(4)-2(1)] notes how he was up on referee David Irvine’s cards 30-28 following the three completed rounds – although Carroll continues to dispute this, arguing that he never saw any card from the fight. It should also be said that, considering the point deduction and the pattern of the curtailed fourth and final round, the bout was conceivably headed toward a 38-38 draw before Geraghty’s ejection.
While the career of Carroll [15(2)-0] sky-rocketed following that win, Geraghty does not rate his familiar foe.
“He couldn’t have got any worse, boxing-wise,” he stated.
“You can never really teach someone to box. You either have natural boxing ability or you have to work hard. He’s not naturally gifted.”
“He should stop crying. Tick tock. Tick tock. Saturday is coming close and he must be fuming by now,” he added before quoting the betting odds for the fight which have Geraghty an 8/13 favourite to Carroll’s 5/4 price.
“It’s a bit embarrassing the champion is the underdog.”
Looking back at their last encounter, Geraghty asserts how Carroll “was lucky the last time with that disqualification.”
“I was outmuscling him and beating him in that war. This time around, we’ll play my game.”
“He got his wish in the first fight and he wanted to have a war. He was losing that fight and I’ve already beaten him at his own game.”
While he admits to being drawn into a war in their first meeting, Geraghty claims it is all business ahead of the rematch and suggests that he will play to his strengths – using his range and boxing skills.
The inner-city 28-year-old outlined how “as a camp, this has been my most professional. After beating Johnny Quigley, I stayed training. I’ve been in camp all year. It will show on the night.”
“I’m not even thinking about revenge. People will say it’s why I wanted this fight but revenge is not what’s on my mind. I’m just going in there to do a job and that’s to pick up the win.”
“I don’t care if the fight steals the show or not. The win is all that matters.”
The clash on Saturday night is will be shown live on BT Sport and BoxNation, featuring on an undercard that also includes Jack Catterall v Tyrone McKenna, Tyrone McCullagh v Joe Ham, Lewis Benson v Johnny Coyle, and Gary Cully v Zoltan Szabo.
Also set to appear on the bill are Lewis Crocker, Padraig McCrory, Taylor McGoldrick, Sunny Edwards, Neslan Machado, and the professional debut of Sean McComb, while Conlan headlines in a step-up versus Brazilian Adeilson Dos Santos.
