BRAY hero Katie Taylor added the WBO women’s lightweight title to her collection with a ninth-round stoppage of Brazilian Rose Volante in Philadelphia last night (March 15).
After dropping Volante in the opening round, Taylor, the WBA and IBF champion going in, went on to dominate every one of the subsequent rounds and finally forced a stoppage at the 1.40 mark of round nine.
With the victory, Taylor, 13-0 (6), can now move on and target a fight against Belgium’s Delfine Persoon for the remaining title – the WBC version – in the women’s lightweight division.
In the main event at the Liacouras Center, IBF junior-lightweight champion Tevin Farmer, the Philly star, moved his record to 29-4-1-1 (6) 1 ND as retained his title for the third time with a 12-round unanimous decision over Dublin’s Jono Carroll, 16-1-1 (3). The fight was action-packed from the off and although Carroll was the more aggressive through much of it, it was Farmer who landed the more accurate blows. By round 11, in fact, Farmer, not known as a puncher, was beginning to hurt Carroll as the tough Irishman faded down the stretch.
In the end, scorecards of 117-110, 117-111, and 117-111 were rendered for Farmer but felt a little wide and unfair on Carroll.
In a thriller at middleweight, Poland’s Maciej Sulecki, 28-1 (11) won a unanimous decision over Gabriel Rosado, 24-12-1 (14) in their scheduled 10-rounder. Rosado was floored in rounds one and eight, but nearly got the better of a tiring Sulecki in round nine. Ultimately, Sulecki lasted the course, won most of the rounds, and was a deserving winner by scores of 95-93 and 95-91 twice.
