Shortty Carroll victorious in keenly contested all-Irish clash with Jamesy Gorman

Stephen Carroll took the spoils tonight in a hard-fought back-and-forward all-Irish scrap with the experienced Jamesy Gorman.

Fighting over eight rounds for the Celtic Nations light welterweight title, Shortty took a points win on the referees card for what could be a potentially break-out win.

Gorman had lost seventeen fights on the spin since returning to the sport earlier this year as a journeyman, but the 37 year old certainly wasn’t there to make up the numbers tonight and did not give an inch throughout in an entertaining scrap.

An even start, Gorman fought well off the jab, but the bigger single shots came from the Dubliner.

Carroll seemed to have found his range in the second, landing well early on, but would be buzzed by a nice counter from Gorman.

A quieter third was closely contested, with Carroll maybe edging the proceedings.

The pair went toe-to-toe in the fourth, and it was Gorman who perhaps landed the greater number of shots.

Carroll went back to his boxing in the fifth, and dominated with his skills, before threatening to take over in the sixth as he began to time the game Gorman as he came in.

Going into the seventh, uncharted territory for Carroll, he continued to land eye-catching shots, but Gorman would roar back as the round progressed with some head-rocking shots of his own, at one stage sending his younger opponent stumbling onto the ropes.

The two would trade shots to start the eight and final round and Carroll would slowly begin to stamp his authority on the stanza before a grandstand finish from both.

Going to referee Hugh Russell Jr’s card, Carroll was deservedly given the nod on a scoreline of 78:76.

Following the exciting bout tonight, Carroll moves to 5(1)-0, while Gorman drops to 8(3)-30(3)-1.

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)