Jono Carroll ratified as official WBA super-featherweight challenger
“King Kong” Jono Carroll (24-2-1, 7KO) has landed another world title shot, this time for the WBA super-featherweight title currently held by American Lamont Roach (24-1-1, 9KO).
The 31-year-old fan favourite from Dublin challenged for the IBF world super-featherweight title back in 2019, but was unanimously decisioned by champion Tevin Farmer in his home city of Philadelphia.
The Irish southpaw has since reeled off six straight wins culminating in his unanimous decision victory over Colombian Miguel Marragia in March 2023.
Titleholder Roach, 28 from Maryland, has lost just once to Jamel Herring in his first attempt at a world title, defeated unanimously by the WBO champion in 2019. He squeezed past Hector Luis Garcia in his last fight in November to win the WBA bauble on a split decision.
Jesus Milano reported on February 9: The World Boxing Association (WBA) Championships Committee recognized Jono Carroll as the mandatory challenger of the super featherweight category after an extensive analysis of the division and what has happened recently.
Carroll sent a formal request to WBA and after analyzing the scenario, the decision was reached on Friday, February 9.
On September 11, 2021, Carroll won an eliminator fight against Andy Vences whereby he moved up to second in the rankings at the time, below the interim and number one champion, who at the time was Chris Colbert.
On August 15, 2021, a mandatory fight had been ordered between champion Roger Gutierrez and interim champion Colbert, but an injury to Gutierrez prevented him from being in time for the bout. In the end, Colbert faced Hector Garcia and lost to the Dominican, who earned the effect of facing Gutierrez for the world title.
Once the Gutierrez-Garcia fight was ordered, in 2022 the committee approved another eliminator in Lamont Roach and Angel Rodriguez, which took place in July 2022 with Roach winning.
Garcia became world champion in August 2022 by beating Gutierrez, made a lightweight fight against Gervonta Davis after receiving special permission and then faced Roach to lose his title to the American in November of last year.
Additionally, Otar Eranosyan faced Roger Gutierrez in a new eliminator in August 2023, and defeated the Venezuelan.
It should be noted that since Carroll won his eliminator fight in 2021 he has been active with competitive fights. WBA rule F.1 says that a person directly affected by a decision of the committee can send a reconsideration while F.2 gives power to the body to choose or replace a mandatory contender in order to comply with the rules.
For that reason, it was approved that Carroll will be Roach’s mandatory challenger and a 30-day period will be granted to negotiate the fight as established by the WBA. In addition, the winner of the bout will face Eranosyan within 120 days of his victory.
Any future decision on this case will be resolved using the WBA’s internal rules and regulations.