Honour in Defeat – Carl Frampton shows class following Warrington World Title loss
Carl Frampton lost last night but still managed to show his winning personality and character.
The Belfast featherweight was defeated in his challenge of IBF champion Josh Warrington at the Manchester Arena, losing out on a unanimous decision.
Frampton was simply overwhelmed by the relentless work-rate of his Leeds opponent.
Hurt early, the Ulsterman managed to fight his way back into the contest but it, he freely admits, wasn’t enough.
Taking the result on the chin, Frampton said afterwards that it was “a hard fight, a tough fight, and the best man won. That was it, that was it.”
“I had a go, I tried, and I fought right to the end but it wasn’t enough.”
“People seem to think it was a good fight, it’s nice to hear that.”
“I’ve got a big heart. I lost the fight but I wanted to stay in there and fight it out. I’ve got a bit of a fighter’s instinct, I don’t really have any quit in me.”
“Even though things weren’t going my way, I wanted to try and win. I think I turned it round a little bit, stole a couple of rounds.”
Analysing the fight which had just taken place, ‘The Jackal’ outlined how “I think what happened was that he kind of started on the back foot then he clipped me and he hurt me and buzzed me a bit and that’s when it became ferocious.”
“My gameplan wasn’t to stand there at all but I was hurt and buzzed and there wasn’t a lot more I could do other than stand and trade.”
“I think that just set the tone for the rest of the fight.
The scorecards of 116-113 and 116-112 were absolutely fine by Frampton who admitted that “he won, he won pretty clearly. He won the fight, fair and square.”
Paying tribute to Warrington, who won his second upset world title fight in a row, Frampton described how “he’s a very good fighter, very good fighter, and a much harder puncher that anyone’s ever given him credit for and a much harder puncher than his record suggests.”
“I was hurt a number of times in the fight.. but that’s boxing, isn’t it?
“Josh is a good guy and so is his family, they’re really nice people.”
“I mean it from the bottom of my heart, I genuinely hope that he goes on and does a lot more in boxing.”
“I hope, I genuinely hope, that he goes on and unifies – the simple reason being that it makes that performance look a wee bit better to be honest!”
“I hope he knocks them all out as well!” joked a disappointed but not downtrodden Frampton.
This is what boxing is all about…
• Respect in the build up
• Go to war for 12 rounds
• Respect in the aftermathJosh Warrington and Carl Frampton with each other in the dressing room shows just what professionals they are #WarringtonFrampton pic.twitter.com/PS2ZIKxbja
— Boxing on BT Sport (@BTSportBoxing) December 23, 2018
