Relentless Warrington beats Frampton to retain IBF featherweight title (PHOTOS)
IBF world featherweight champ Josh Warrington defended his belt against proud former champ Carl Frampton with a scintillating 12 round points decision at Manchester arena on Saturday night.
Sparky workhorse Warrington, who was making the first defense of his belt won in May against classy operator Lee Selby, began the brighter of the two and managed to wobble Frampton in the early exchanges, a surprise from a fighter with only 6 knockouts to his name.
Frampton did well to weather the storm, coming on strong in the middle round and turning the tide, although he had to soak up some relentless pressure from he champion to do so.
Although Frampton is a former featherweight champion having defeated the mercurial Leo Santa Cruz, and unified super bantamweight king, it seemed at times that the title fights had taken heir toll on the 31-year-old, who had to call on every bit of his experience to find an answer at times.
Josh Warrington British fighter of the year 2018. Been a great fight this congrats to both lads
— anthony crolla (@ant_crolla) December 22, 2018
INCREDIBLE 💥 The @ManchesterArena erupts at the final bell after a breathtaking fight between @J_Warrington & @RealCFrampton!!!#WarringtonFrampton 👏 pic.twitter.com/xR7xaxKJ2X
— Frank Warren (@frankwarren_tv) December 22, 2018
Frampton did manage to match the younger man in the later rounds, but by then the fight had already been won. The judges at ringside scored the bout 116-113, 116-112, 116-112 in favor of the 'Leeds Warrior' as a strong start and steady finish from Warrington, who entered the ring as the champion as well as the underdog.
