At a press conference Tuesday at the unique Spin Restaurant and Bar Philly’s IBF World Super Featherweight champion and his opponent Jono Carroll for their upcoming March 15th title fight at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia got into a shouting match!
Carroll, 16-0-1 (3), of Dublin, Ireland, with a beard similar to Adrien “The Problem” Broner started it when he arrived. His promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing introduced him and Farmer later. Farmer who is on a twenty-one fight winning streak (and one NC) after a 7-4-1 beginning got vulgar he was so mad when Carroll mentioned how he liked Philly and implied he might want to “take over the city” as the new world champion after beating Farmer.
Farmer is normally a good-natured person and it was out of character for him. He complimented his trainer Raul “Chino” Rivas and assistant trainer Rashiem Jefferson who were both in attendance. He opened up “thanking God or this wouldn’t be possible without Him”.
Hearn referred to Carroll as “full of spunk and having a huge following.” Carroll thanked Hearn for keeping him in boxing while he was living in Australia and on the verge of quitting. Hearn is bringing in Irish fighters on this upcoming show on the St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Also on the card is Ireland’s lightweight John Joe Nevin, 11-0 (4), who has fought in the US in eight of his fights with good reviews. Also on the undercard is welterweight Daniyar “Kazakah Thunder” Yeleussinov, 5-0 (3), from KZ, living in Brooklyn, NY, a 2012 and 2016 Olympian winning a Gold Medal in 2016 promoted by Hearn.
Philly’s outspoken “Hammerin” Hank Lundy, 29-7-1 (14), got into it with his opponent on the undercard fellow Philly boxer Avery Sparrow, 9-1 (3). Philly IBHOF promoter J Russell Peltz of Peltz Boxing who is one of the co-promoters was on the “panel” during the press conference in a green “Smokin” Joe Frazier sweat jacket trying to calm Lundy down. He promotes Sparrow who hasn’t fought since March of 2018 with a prior over Jose “Wonder Boy” Lopez, then 19-1-1 that got him into the world ratings in November of 2017 for a time.
Sparrow, who is 25 started out complimenting the 35 year-old Lundy when he was asked to talk but mentioned “Hank came up short in title fights and now it’s my time” pertaining to the reputation Lundy has in loses in his world title bouts (with Terence Crawford who stopped him as did John Molina in a minor title bout) when he was stopped in both bouts. Five of his other losses were for minor titles along with winning five minor titles. Lundy called himself “a dog” meaning he would fight anyone.
Lou DiBella of DiBella Entertainment promotes Farmer and spoke well about how the champion has now defending for the fourth time in 7 1/2 months. Also mentioning how Farmer’s grandfather the late great IBHOF lightweight Joe “Old Master” Gans, 158-12-21, had fought some seventeen times in one year (actually 29 times in 1985). Farmer mentioned wanting to fight five or six times this year. DiBella mentioned how the typical Philly fighter is one with guts and hardworking referring to Farmer as one of them.
Hearns spoke about British boxers who have had success like heavyweight champion Anthony “AJ” Joshua, WBA Super Middle champion Callum Smith, Luke Campbell (No. 1 WBC Lightweight) and Ireland’s No. 1 female Gold Medalist Katie Taylor, 12-0 (5), who will be on the undercard defending her IBF and WBA world titles against the WBO’s champ Rose Volante, 14-0 (8), of Sao Paulo, BRZ. Taylor spoke well and one had to like her right off.
Philly’s “King” Gabe Rosado, 24-11-1 (14), spoke “thanking God” and mentioned how he and Lundy had that Philly mentality of not caring who they fought. He mentioned bypassing fighting K-9 Bundrage for his super welter title when Rosado was the No. 1 contender but moved up in weight to unsuccessfully challenge then world middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin instead (for much more money). Rosado will be taking on Poland’s Maciej “Striczu” Sulecki, 27-1 (11), on the undercard. Rosado mentioned not fighting in his hometown since 2012 and it was good to be back. Rosado also mentioned working a third shift making $10 hr at one time in his life. His trainer Billy Briscoe was in attendance.
Hearn also introduced his latest fighter he signed in Philly’s featherweight Raymond “Savage” Ford who will be turning professional on the card. He was 2018 Briscoe Awards amateur of the year that editor and writer for his Philly Boxing History John DiSanto promotes each year who was in attendance reminding this writer of that. He also writes for Fight News. Box Rec shows Ford as 20-7 and a 2018 National Golden Gloves champion. Hearn spoke highly of Ford who spoke briefly very well “thanking God” in considering it was his first press conference.
Peltz spoke about various history bouts and how he is now promoting the sons of past boxers like Eugene “Cyclone” Hart’s son Jesse “Hollywood” Hart. Peltz is an excellent and knowledgeable speaker as well as writer. He will be doing matchmaking on the February 8th card that “Raging Babe” Michelle Rosado is promoting in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena in her first local promotion after promoting recently in several Arizona shows.
Rosado was also in attendance and referred by DiBella as a “future top promoter”. She works with Peltz and is a very likeable and knowledgeable person on boxing. She mentioned to one of the writers in attendance Kurt Wolfheimer who writes for Fight News that she only has a few tickets left on her upcoming show featuring Philly’s unbeaten Christian Carto, 17-0 (11), who was in attendance along with his brother-manager Frankie and their father Frank. Carto is one of if not the most exciting young boxer in Philadelphia at this time and a former National Amateur champion. Also in attendance was former well known amateur South Philly heavyweight Sonny Conto who will be making his debut on her show. Numerous photographers were on hand.