By Rachel Aylett: Tonight, in front of a raucous Belfast crowd of 9,000 Ulstermen and women, Carl Frampton successfully defended his European super-bantamweight title in a fight that also doubled as an eliminator for the IBF world title. He knocked out hapless French opponent Jeremy Parodi with a superb left hook to the body in the sixth round to put himself in line for a shot at the winner of the upcoming title fight between champion Kiko Martinez from Span and lanky South African, Jeffrey Mathebula.
It was all very predictable as, despite holding a ridiculous no.4 world ranking with the IBF, Parodi is not, never was and never will be anywhere near world class. Having said that, he fought bravely but was completely outclassed by Frampton, who most certainly is world class and never had to raise his game past second gear.
The atmosphere in the Odyssey Arena was absolutely amazing. It sent shivers down the spine as the two fighters waited to come to the ring. Parodi, of course, entered to a chorus of boos and catcalls. As he climbed into the ring and stood in his corner he looked sick to his stomach. He would have tried to prepare himself for a hostile reception but there’s no way he could have known what was awaiting him. Conversely, Frampton came to the ring in front of his adoring fans, who were singing and dancing to his entrance music. As Frampton’s team settled into the ring, the exuberance of his manager, and now promoter, Barry McGuigan, almost boiled over as he jigged up and down on his toes as if he were the one getting ready to fight. Barry was also trying to gee up the crowd, as if they needed it!
The fight itself followed a clear pattern, with Parodi scooting around the ring in the first couple of rounds, desperate not to engage with his stalking rival. Frampton was expert at cutting off the ring though and got on top right from the start, with Parodi’s face already starting to mark up, particularly around the left eye, after the first two rounds. It was always just a matter of time, as Frampton scored with his educated shots and Parodi desperately tossed out his jab, which was not a hurtful one, but rather an attempt to keep Carl occupied and ease some of the pressure. The fourth round saw Frampton start to build the pressure and he staggered Parodi back on his heels with a straight left hand.
Despite the obvious chasm in class, Parodi took most of Frampton’s shots without budging and, indeed, at the start of the sixth round he started to come forward. It wasn’t clear if his confidence was rising or whether it was a desperate last measure to try and find some success on the front foot. Of course, this played directly into Frampton’s hands and the counter shots started raining in on the Frenchman, particularly to the body. It was one of these that brought about the end of the fight, with Italian referee Adrio Zannoni counting out Parodi as he was on his knees gasping for air.
The chief support was a messy and mauling fight for an IBF middleweight inter-title between Dungiven fighter Eamonn O’Kane and Welsh former European champion Kerry Hope. Hope has regressed dramatically from his brief halcyon days as the champion of his continent. He won that title in a huge upset over quality Polish fighter Grzegorz Proksa, but was thrashed by the same fighter in a rematch four months later. He was subsequently stopped by Darren Barker prior to the latter becoming IBF champion. These two defeats seem to have shattered Hope’s confidence irreparably. He was hardly in the fight against O’Kane, who kept rampaging forward and outpunching Hope to the point where Hope’s trainer, Gary Lockett, threatened to pull him out of the contest at the end of the eighth round. Hope wasn’t putting up too much of an argument in the corner, and it seemed as though he would have been happy for Lockett to rescue him. However, he did come out for the ninth round, and it seemed as though O’Kane had taken his foot off the gas and let Hope off the hook. It soon became apparent though that O’Kane hardly had anything left, as he stumbled through the last three rounds seemingly on his last legs. Hope couldn’t believe his luck and won those rounds to make the final scorecards a bit more respectable. He was so far behind though that the cards had become irrelevant by that time. O’Kane got the unanimous decision with scores of 118-111, 116-112 and 114-113. I concurred with the middle score.
Aside from Frampton, the best performance of the night belonged to novice featherweight Marco McCullough, who upset the odds by winning the Irish title against long-established opponent Willie Casey, from Limerick in the Republic. Casey is the former European champion at super-bantamweight, but was never in the fight against McCullough and could never get to grips with the height and reach advantages of the Ulsterman. McCullough set the scene in the first round when he hurt Casey with a combination finished by a right uppercut. There were moments in the second and third when Casey threatened to get into the fight, landing with good shots to the body, but even in these rounds he seemed to be outscored by the polished young McCullough. As the fight wore on, McCullough’s dominance grew and grew as he employed a withering body attack to slow down Casey. He was boxing with a confidence which completely belied his 7-1 (4) record going into the fight. There never seemed any doubt with either Marco or his corner that he was going to win the fight, whereas Phil Sutcliffe, in Casey’s corner, was becoming more and more desperate, trying to rouse his fighter. He continually asked for more punches, as Casey was trudging forward without throwing, just walking on to McCullough’s shots. Finally, in the ninth round, the constant punishment Casey was taking finally proved too much. He was floored by the ropes with a right-hander. He managed to rise but within seconds was under pressure again before the referee rightly rescued him.
Commentary
It is probable now that the comparisons by the fans between Frampton and deadly British rival Scott Quigg will swing in Frampton’s favour, due to this fine performance from Carl and the struggle Quigg had a few weeks ago with Cuban Yoandris Salinas. There is no comparison, however, between these two opponents. Salinas is a contender for the world title, Parodi is a contender for the European title – big difference!
Frampton’s performance was highly professional. He didn’t let the crowd get to him and was as cool as a cucumber as he went about his business, never once getting carried away. That is until the post-fight interview, when he described himself as the hardest punching super-bantamweight in the world. Methinks Guillermo Rigondeaux and Nonito Donaire would each have something to say about that.
In the chief support, it seemed as though O’Kane was putting on the best performance of his short (now 11-1 (3)) career. It was rather tainted though by the shocking way in which he completely ran out of gas. He looked terribly vulnerable in the last three rounds and if Hope could have pushed himself a bit more it looked as though O’Kane could have been taken out. He stumbled into the ropes on a couple of occasions and one of these could perceivably have been called a knockdown.
A final comment about the referee of the O’Kane-Hope fight, German Timo Habighorst. As soon as he appeared you just knew that there would be some kind of controversy involving him. He was bizarrely wearing a pair of black gloves, which I can’t clain to have seen a referee do before. Sure enough, Herr Habighorst mistakenly called a knockdown over O’Kane in the tenth round, when he had clearly been pushed to the canvas by Hope. Luckily, it had no bearing on the outcome. To be fair, that aside, the referee did a decent job.
@RachelAylett1
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