Carl Frampton was crowned the new European super bantamweight champion after knocking out Spaniard Kiko Martinez in front of his own supporters last night.
By Declan Whooley
A brilliant atmosphere at the packed Odyssey Arena in Belfast witnessed the 25 year-old become the first man to stop Martinez and laid the Spaniard out on the canvas in the ninth round.
Martinez is no stranger to passionate crowds as it could not prevent him from stopping Bernard Dunne in Dublin in the opening round in 2007, but this time it was a slugfest until Frampton finished the bout off in style with huge straight right.
Frampton, who was ahead on all three scorecards by four rounds (twice) and two rounds on the third, extends his unbeaten record to 16 professional contests.
The Jackal was quick to praise his trainer Shane McGuigan and mentor Barry McGuigan as he is now propelled into the elite of the division and a showdown with British boxer Scott Quigg, who was watching ringside, a now very much on the cards.
“I can’t remember much about the (knockout) punch. It was a decent shot,” he said afterwards
“I proved I’ve got a good chin. I could feel his power but he didn’t hurt me. He didn’t make my legs wobble but you can see from face that he hits hard.”
Another one of Northern Ireland’s biggest sporting stars was quick to praise Frampton on his victory after the final bell.
Like Rory, we hope a world title fight is not far away for Frampton.
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