Frampton impresses in taking Celtic title
Carl Frampton is the new Celtic super-bantamweight champion following a second-round knockout of Redcar-based Scot Gavin Reid at Belfast's Ulster Hall last night, writes Steve Wellings. The Tigers Bay prospect shrugged off any suggestions that this title tilt had come too soon in his fledgling career with a dominat display of classy punch picking.
Competing in his 13th professional contest Reid was fresh and experienced, still burning with ambition from a career that has seen him mix with the top domestic names. Bury's unbeaten current WBA Intercontinental champion Scott Quigg broke Gavin down in the ninth-round back in July. No doubt Carl had half an eye on that benchmark and smashed it to pieces.
Frampton landed repeated right hands in the opener as he pinned Reid on the ropes. The local hero bobbed and weaved in and out of punching range whenever Reid stalked forward. It was apparent that Gavin lacked the speed to land with any regularity. Whenever Carl opened up, his shots landed with sickening thuds. Reid was brave and tried to see out the storm but at 2-29 of the second-round he was taking head shots in the blue corner and referee Steve Gray jumped in and stopped the bout. Unused judges were Mark Green and Ian John-Lewis.
Frampton improves to 8-0 (5KO’s) and Reid slip to 6-8-1 (3KO’s).
It's time for Lurgan welterweight Stephen Haughian to forget about the defeat to Kevin McIntyre and move on. The 26-year-old can still force his way into the mix and the Celtic title loss in June will be put down to experience. In this one, Haughian’s skills made cameo appearances as he bettered slippery customer Dave Ryan by a score of 78-74 on Paul McCullagh’s slate. Derby native Ryan had title form of his own, in the shape of the Midlands Area belt, and was no push over at 9-3 (3KO's) coming in. He brought over some vocal support in the crowd and was clearly up for the job.
Haughian established his range finder straight away and had Dave off balance with clusters of punches. The Derby man was unorthodox in his approach, swaying at the waist while threatening to switch southpaw. Ryan took the second, winging in hooks and causing Stephen to cling on to his man, back against the ropes, as Ryan bulled inside. The fight was a pick ‘em through the third and fourth sessions. It was a question of what you liked best. Haughian was missing more than usual as he struggled to come to terms with the unpredictability of Ryan’s movement and opted for single shots – when Dave landed, he landed big. It was a good, honest small hall scrap between two fighters desperate to break into title class.
Haughian was at his best when he used his left jab and kept the away man guessing. Ryan’s output was noticeably decreasing by the seventh round as Stephen took control of centre ring and held on despite a cut high to the head late in the fight. Haughian improves to 20-2-1 (8KO’s) while Ryan suffered is fourth loss from 13 starts.
On the last Ulster Hall bill Ryan Greene shutout Matt Scriven over four rounds and impressed with some patient and effective boxing. The hard-hitting southpaw was paired with Hungarian Lazszlo Haaz in this one and got rid of his man at 1-27 of round-one. Greene used his southpaw jab to good effect in the early stages and picked his shots well. Haaz got caught in a blizzard of shots and referee Paul McCullagh jumped in. Even though the decision to halt proceedings was a touch premature, Haaz was announced as being in no position to defend himself. Solid Greene moves to 3-0 as a professional with his first stoppage win, while Budapest’s Laszlo falls to 4-3.
Walsall light-heavyweight Chris Keane improved to 4-0 (1KO) but was made to work hard for his latest success. Keane had to overcome a badly bloodied nose and a rugged opponent in the form of Sheffield’s experienced Carl Wild to post a 58-57 victory on referee Paul McCullagh’s scorecard. Keane’s left eye was closed over at the end of the contest and the fans warmed to rugged Wild – now 9-15-3 (1KO) - who felt he had done enough to win.
Troy James was due to meet Georgia’s Mikheil Gogebashvili and Jamie Conlan was scheduled to meet Mikheil’s compatriot Levan Garibashvili but neither Eastern European man made it to the arena due to extreme weather conditions. That left Jamie and Troy to entertain one another in a four-threes exhibition bout as both men got a run out in front of an appreciative crowd.
