Centro de Usos Multiples Arena in Hermosillo, Mexico - Jono Carroll returned to the ring following a clear but competitive loss to IBF champion Tevin Farmer earlier this year. (photos by Ed Mulholland).
Carroll (17-1-1, 3 KOs) was met by Eleazar Valenzuela (20-12-4-1, 16 KOs). The 27-year-old Carroll, a former Prizefighter winner from Dublin, Ireland, was a -4000 betting favorite.
But he never truly looked like it as he won a unanimous decision with scores of 98-92 across all three judges’ cards.
Former world champion Liam Smith stopped battle-tested Mario Alberto Lozano of Chihuahua, Mexico.
Smith (28-2-1, 16 KOs), who debuted as a middleweight, looked sharp throughout as he pressed forward and picked apart Lozano with measured punches in a competitive scrap that ended in a seventh round TKO.
Croatian Filip Hrgovic, a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, waxed Mario Heredia in three rounds with a knockout win.
Hrgovic (9-0, 7 KOs), who was eight inches taller and 40 pounds lighter than Heredia (16-7-1, 13 KOs), made easy work of him from there as the unheralded Heredia spilled down. He picked himself up halfheartedly, but it was too little, too late.
