By David Blair: Northern Irish boxing has seen a resurgence of late with both Brian Magee and Martin Rogan gaining the attention of the boxing world. However, there is another fighter on which a fresh wave of Belfast pride is rapidly growing.
Known as the Jackal, 23 year old Carl Frampton (8-0) has been hailed as “the best talent in the four nations” by promoter and mentor Barry McGuigan. On his last two outings Frampton has displayed all the qualities of a fighter that will go on to achieve great things and in time challenge for a world title.
Frampton followed up a three round demolition of experienced competitor Yuri Voronin (27-12-2) by clinching the vacant Celtic super-bantamweight title with a second round stoppage over Gavin Reid in a packed Ulster hall in Belfast.
It is notably early days in a promising career that has much tougher challenges ahead, though promoter McGuigan firmly believes in his protégés ability, “Carl is a destructive puncher and he fights intelligently, offensively and defensively”.
McGuigans’ credentials speak for themselves as he is a former world featherweight champion and avid supporter of Irish boxing.
Despite the praise from his promoter, Frampton’s feet rest firmly on the ground, though he acknowledges that “This was my first title fight and although it’s not a major belt it’s a big deal for me”. He notes that “Gavin is a tough guy and to stop him in two rounds makes a big statement”.
Only time will tell if the wave of optimism regarding the attributes and ability of Carl Frampton will break. Or if, as I expect, ‘the Jackal’ can conjure up the perfect storm in the world of boxing.
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