Frampton KO’s Hughes In London Title Defense

Carl Frampton sent out a chilling warning to his rivals with a stunning seventh round knockout of Kris Hughes as he defended his Commonwealth Super Bantamweight title at York Hall, Bethnal Green.

In the build up to the fight, much of the focus was on a potential fight with British champion Scott Quigg, but Frampton proved his focus was true as he put together a punch-perfect performance that culminated in a violent right hook at the start of the seventh round that ended the fight.

Frampton’s unbeaten run reaches 12 fights and now his attention can turn to future showdowns – with a St Patrick’s Day date in New York City and fights with Scott Quigg and Kiko Martinez looking very likely.

“It was a perfect performance, I stuck to the plan we’d formulated and it worked brilliantly,” said Frampton. “We knew he had a great chin and he took a lot of shots so it was going to take something massive to get rid of him.

“He never hurt me in the fight, I broke him down to the body and a few seconds before the punch that won it I threw a right hook for the first time and it just missed so I tried it again. He took a lot of big shots but I knew when I connected that it was over.

“I said before the fight that I keep getting asked about this guy and then getting chastised by his trainer Joe Gallagher for talking about him! I would love to fight Scott Quigg and Kiko Martinez.

People said after the Robbie Turley fight that I would struggle against tall southpaws and there were people saying that I could not beat Quigg after that night. But Turley was an underestimated opponent and while that night was frustrating, it was the best thing that could’ve happened to me. Scott has a tough night in store against Jamie Arthur next week so it’s over to him now.

“The only way I wouldn’t have been boxing in Madison Square Garden on March 17 would have been if I had got injured tonight but I feel fantastic so let’s hope it can happen. It’s a massive occasion and the stuff dreams are made of so fingers crossed.”

Frampton delivered an icy stare to Hughes as he entered the sold-out York Hall to face the Scot, and Hughes never slipped the attention of the champion, who stalked the challenger in the opening rounds in an ominous sign of things to come.

The Belfast boy smothered Hughes from the very start, eliminating any threat in Hughes’ considerable height and reach advantage and delivering spiteful shots to the body early on to take control of the fight.

With Frampton in total control of proceedings after the first third of the fight, he raised the tempo significantly with great variety. The great work to the body continued and head shots rained in too, as Hughes began to struggle with the sheer volume and variety of punches trained on him.

Hughes made it back to the corner after the sixth round having beckoned Frampton in after withstanding a clinical barrage at the end of the round, but inside the first minute of the seventh round it was all over as Frampton fired in a right hook that could be felt as far as Quigg’s hometown of Bury that nearly launched Hughes out of the ring.

Frampton’s thunderbolt was the final act of a fantastic night of action at York Hall, with Erick ‘The Eagle’ Ochieng winning the English Light-Middleweight title in an electric battle with Nick Quigley.

The pair threw a huge number of punches in the nine rounds of breathless action, with Quigley enjoying early success with his fantastic work rate and shots to the body of Ochieng. But as the fight wore on and the pace stayed high, The Eagle began to turn the screw using his greater power and slipping a lot of the Liverpudlians’ shots.

Quigley, 23, went beyond six rounds for the first time in his career while 24 year-old Ochieng’s furthest contest was eight rounds. Ochieng was happy to stay on the ropes and pick off Quigley after his flurries, but the Stoke Newington man appeared to tire in the seventh round and Quigley’s pressure looked like it could pay off.

But in the eighth round, Ochieng landed a number of lusty blows on Quigley’s chin and as the ninth round began, Quigley took another big shot and Tony Quigley Sr., Nick’s father and trainer pulled his son out of the action, ending a pulsating contest that had the York Hall crowd on their feet.

John Ryder’s reputation continues to grow as he made it nine wins from nine with a second round stoppage of Mariusz Biskupski. The 23 year-old Islington Middleweight put the Pole down in the second round with a body shot, and although he regrouped to come back for more, a big right hook knocked the stuffing out of Biskupski and the referee stepped in. It’s now six wins inside the distance and now Ryder hopes to get his tenth outing on the undercard of Kell Brook’s showdown with Matthew Hatton in Sheffield on March 17.

Former World champion Robin Reid rolled back the years with a ferocious stoppage of Daniel Cadman in the fifth round of their eight round Super Middleweight clash, marking his 50th fight in style.

Ryan ‘Crash Bang’ Taylor stopped Robin Deakin in a hugely entertaining Lightweight scrap. Both men hit the canvas in the opening two rounds, with Deakin down in round one but putting Taylor down in the second. But Taylor, unbeaten in his three previous contests with one draw, secured the win in the third round, dropping Deakin with a body shot then forcing the referee to step in shortly after.

There was a debut win for well-supported Canning Town Cruiserweight Wadi Camacho against Moses Matovu (40-37), while Andreas Evangelou kicked off the night with a win over Robert Studzinski (40-36).