Carl Frampton vs Scott Quigg: A look at Frampton's last five fights
Thursday 14 January 2016 12:21, UK
Carl Frampton's world title unification bout against Scott Quigg will be live on Sky Sports Box Office.
The 28-year-old Northern Irishman (21-0-KO14) is the IBF super-bantamweight champion and, after over a year of frustrating negotiations, has signed up to fight WBA Super champion Quigg (31-0-2-KO23) at the Manchester Arena on February 27.
Let's have a look back at Frampton's previous five fights...
Jeremy Parodi
France's Parodi arrived in Belfast with an impressive record of 35-1-1 and was expected to mount a serious challenge for Frampton's European title, but 'The Jackal' delighted his hometown fans with a slick performance that climaxed with a brilliant sixth-round stoppage.
With Parodi showing signs of struggling with Frampton's pace, the champion began to pick his man off at will - his head shots interspersed with whipping body blows that slowed Parodi further. The shot that did it was a sweet punch to the solar plexus that prompted Parodi to take a knee and be counted out.
Hugo Fidel Cazares
Six months later, Frampton was in against a two-weight world champion in Hugo Fidel Cazares, who was 40-7-2-KO27 when he set down in Belfast hoping to burst Frampton's bubble and put himself in the super-bantamweight world title mix.
Cazares ate a decent overhand right after 30 seconds and seemed tentative for the remainder of a fairly uneventful opening round - but in the second, Frampton showed what the fuss was about. Cazares appeared to pick up a knock to the thigh but he received no sympathy from Frampton, who unleashed a colossal left hook to stop the fight.
Kiko Martinez
The night Carl Frampton became a world champion. Frampton had beaten Martinez in February 2013 via ninth-round stoppage to retain the European crown but, with the Spaniard's IBF world title on the line this time round, Frampton adopted a slightly more cautious approach to the rematch.
The Belfast crowd erupted in the fifth when Frampton sent Martinez to the canvas with a crisply-timed overhand right, but little time was left in the session and Martinez made the bell. Frampton then clicked back into his rhythm to outbox his man for the remaining rounds and ensure he became world champion via a wide points decision.
Chris Avalos
Frampton's first defence was against young Californian Avalos, who had stopped his previous three opponents to earn himself a world title shot in the Northern Irish capital.
Avalos certainly wasn't backwards in coming forward. The visitor took the fight to Frampton and even hit him on the break in the first round to earn a warning from the referee. Frampton soon started to measure his punches and the exchanges were flashy but at the start of the fifth, Frampton seized the initiative emphatically with some huge right hands that left Avalos out on his feet.
Alejandro Gonzalez Jr
Is this Frampton's most important fight to date? He should have learned some valuable lessons. The 22-year-old Gonzalez Jr boasted a height and reach advantage and Frampton was making his US debut in front of an expectant El Paso crowd.
It couldn't have started much worse for the champion as Gonzalez knocked him down twice in the very first round with shots that seemed to catch him off-balance rather than genuinely hurt him. Frampton regrouped impressively and got back to boxing cleverly to ensure a wide points win.
