Irish boxer Jono Carroll is one among the names most synonymous with the game in Dubai, but he had a tricky time getting out in recent weeks.
The fan favorite fighter hasn’t boxed as an expert in his hometown since 2014, when his first fight with Declan Geraghty led to a DQ victory. This time he returns to Dublin for a shot on the super-featherweight IBO belt against Colm Murphy.
Nonetheless, with unrest within the Middle East and blanket cancellations of flights out of the UAE, he had to search out a approach to get home, at great cost to promoter Frank Warren. He has made it back, though, and is now set for one among the largest nights of boxing ever in Ireland.
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Jono Carroll details how he got out of Dubai amid political unrest
Irrespective of what happened on this planet, Jono Carroll was going to be competing on this weekend’s fight card in Dublin. He has fought throughout, including on the infamous night Evander Holyfield returned to the ring to be knocked out by Vitor Belfort in a 2021 exhibition, but now finally gets to come back home.
Nonetheless, with flights out of Dubai and even Abu Dhabi all cancelled attributable to the danger attributable to the US and Iran conflict, he needed to get out through different means.
And speaking with Bloody Elbow he refused to place a dollar amount to how much had been paid, but noted it was a dear trip for each him and essential event star Jazza Dickens, who was also within the Middle East.
“It was a crazy experience,” Carroll explained. “But once I finally get through it and turn into world champion it should be just one other chapter within the book that makes it much more exciting.
“We needed to travel through Oman, we needed to undergo the border on buses, we eventually got there and it was craziness. The second driver on the bus wasn’t even allowed to take us, we got to the hotel after a 4 hour journey and it was mad.
“We were asking Queensberry [how much it cost] and it was silly money. I don’t like to discuss money, it’s what it’s but they [the airlines] were handsomely paid.
“And all of the flights were booked up so that they could only get me and Jazza top quality so we weren’t complaining. Big Frank has us sorted!”