Boxing Challenge:Farmer holds off Carroll

Errol Spence and Mikey Garcia might be getting the majority of the publicity for this boxing weekend and that is more than justified, but Matchroom Boxing and DAZN put together two fights that were filled with punches, action, and drama on the night before boxing's big evening that could possibly give the winners of those bouts a chance to step forward in the near future.

In the main event from Philadelphia, hometown star Tevin Farmer rallied strongly late to win a unanimous decision over Ireland's Jono Carroll and retain his IBF junior lightweight championship.
The wide scorecards did a disservice to the surprisingly stern challenge of Carroll, who wore down Farmer with a devoted body attack and fought through two facial cuts as he fought Farmer evenly through ten rounds.
Farmer dug down to win the final two rounds and the fight on my card 115-113 (7-5) after badly hurting Carroll in the final minute of the eleventh to the point of almost finishing the fight then and there.
Carroll managed to bravely stand tall against the Farmer attack and stay on his feet, but the effects would follow in the final round, which Farmer won to clinch the fight.
Farmer continues to crow and ask for a fight against WBA champion Gervonta Davis, which DAZN claimed during this event that Matchroom was offering Davis five million for such a fight.
IF (huge if) that is a five million dollar/one fight offer without options, I suppose the time for reckoning will have arrived for Davis promoter Floyd Mayweather and the PBC.
Can an organization that claims their fighters are treated so well, turn down an offer that is more than five times a fighter's highest purse for one fight elsewhere?
Especially when you consider that Davis would be a strong favorite in such a bout?
Those decisions alone are going to be fascinating to watch.
As for Tevin Farmer, he's a solid fighter that likes to stay active and he's evolved into more of an attacker than a dancer over his last few outings that's much more fun to watch, but I just don't see Farmer on the same level as Gervonta Davis.

The middleweight co-feature was scheduled to identify the next challenger for WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade in June.
Maciej Sulecki will be that challenger after a unanimous decision that saw Sulecki dominate warhorse Gabriel Rosado for eight rounds and knock Rosado down in the first and eighth rounds.
The latter knockdown had the DAZN commentators wondering if Rosado's corner, the referee or the doctor might be best suited to end Rosado's suffering.
After all, for eight rounds Rosado had shown zero capabilities of reaching Sulecki with the type of shot that would win this fight by knockout and that's what it would take to do so.
Considering all of that, of course, the best story would be Rosado coming out of nowhere to turn the fight around and he did just that with two knockdowns that would have almost certainly ended the fight had the bell not clanged after Sulecki rose from the second knockdown.
Rosado continued to abuse Sulecki in the tenth round, but Sulecki stayed on his feet to hang on for the win, which was far closer on the scorecards than it appeared to me.
I scored Sulecki a 96-90 winner, 8-2 in rounds with Sulecki losing a 10-7 ninth round and Rosado losing two points for his earlier knockdowns.
Sulecki has now been dropped late in the two biggest fights (Rosado and Daniel Jacobs) of his career and that will be something to look for as he enters his title challenge of Andrade.
As for Rosado, his late rally is going to be just enough to encourage him and his team to continue fighting and despite that rally, I'm afraid we've seen the best of a brave warrior.

Ramon Malpica and I each received four points for the evening, allowing me to retain my lead of 54-53.