Carl Frampton remained on course for a world title shot at WBO Super-Featherweight champion Jamel Herring, overcoming a slow start to stop Darren Traynor in the seventh of their Lightweight meeting at York Hall on Saturday.
Two-weight world champion, Frampton (28-2, 16 KOs) ripped in a huge left hook to the body which had late-replacement Traynor (16-4, 7 KOs) lying flat on the canvas, however after beating the count the Aberdeen native had seen enough after another body shot in the seventh.
‘The Jackal’ began in a relaxed manner in what was a quiet opening couple of rounds where he struggled with his timing.
The heads clashed in round three and Traynor put together some eye-catching shots that caught the favourite, who responded with a good left hand at the end of the round.
It was scrappy action and Frampton wasn’t overly imposing himself on a man that was physically huge in comparison to him.
After the halfway mark, Frampton, 33, finally upped his output, landing with a couple of right hands in the sixth and showing much better footwork.
That, of course, came not long after @RealCFrampton floored Traynor with more body work to close the sixth 🥴 pic.twitter.com/dhKJ2N6tUw
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) August 15, 2020
The Irishman made the breakthrough with a pair of crippling body shots that folded Traynor to the canvas, however he bravely beat the count and was saved by the bell.
The minute’s rest was not long enough though for the 33-year-old and the seventh saw Frampton unleash another left to the body which left Traynor waving his fist, turned away in pain and referee Michael Alexander waved the bout off, with the corner’s towel in their hand.
Frampton’s attention now turns to WBO Super Featherweight champion, Jamel Herring, who must first defend his belt against Jonathan Oquendo next month in a second rescheduled clash, in order for the pair to finally meet, hopefully before the end of 2020.
That’s what I’m talking about! Let me focus on Oquendo, but congrats Carl!#boxing pic.twitter.com/s3FtNnRv11
— Jamel Herring (@JamelHerring) August 15, 2020
“I was happy to get the win, far from my best, but it won’t harm me doing the rounds,” Frampton told BT Sport post-fight.
“If I had a chance to take him out early, I would have, but he’s a tough kid.
“I know I need to be a lot better for Herring, but it was good to get the rounds in.”
Michael Conlan impressed as the chief support, showing off his repertoire in a dominant tenth and last round stoppage win against the tough Sofiane Takoucht in their Featherweight battle, to move closer to a world title tilt himself.
Conlan (14-0, 8 KOs) worked Takoucht’s body in the opener as he dominated the session and the Irishman was boxing beautifully, confusing the Frenchman with the variety and volume of punches that were coming his way in the second.
The Belfast man was intent on softening the body of former world title challenger Takoucht (35-5-1, 13 KOs), as the assault continued into the third, where he was warned twice by referee Steve Gray for low blows.
The pair butted heads at the end of the same session, as tensions frayed. Another meaty body shot halfway into the fourth visibly hurt Takoucht, as Conlan rained in painful shots, but another low shot forced a point deduction after the previous warnings.
The lesson clearly wasn’t learned for Conlan, as he was again docked a point in the very next round and he was now flirting with disqualification.
After a quieter sixth, the 28-year-old again got back to his impressive work to the body, hurting Takoucht, who was stopped in two rounds by Josh Warrington last October, yet again in round seven with a superb left hook.
Takoucht struggled to get anything going throughout the contest, but the eighth did at least see him match Conlan for workrate, and having a decent ninth, landing body shots of his own.
The end came in the final round, when a right to the body allowed Conlan to rapidly uncork a right to the head. Takoucht was all at sea on the ropes, and after a follow up attack, the referee waved the contest off.
Conlan is likely to target recently crowned WBO Super-Bantamweight champion Angelo Leo, who is set to face Stephen Fulton next.
Archie Sharp (19-0, 9 KOs) scraped past Jeff Ofori (10-3-1, 3 KOs) by one point on the referee’s scorecard in a lacklustre showing over ten rounds.
A 96-95 verdict was good enough for the Welling man to remain unbeaten, but it was far from a vintage showing.
Troy Williamson (15-0-1, 11 KOs) was also perhaps fortunate to keep his IBF European Super-Welterweight title in a points win over Harry Scarff.
Scores of 96-95, 96-94, and 97-94 were enough for the Darlington man to retain his belt, but there was more than an argument for Scarff (8-2, 1 KO) to get the nod.
Dennis McCann (7-0, 5 KOs) sadly had to wait for his chance to shine until after the main event at near midnight and shine he did, becoming only the second man to stop 63 fight veteran, Brett Fidoe.
7 fights
7 wins
5 KOsDennis McCann is the real deal, folks.
Remember his name ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/yd4dmfIlBQ
— Boxing on BT Sport 🥊 (@BTSportBoxing) August 15, 2020
A wicked second round body shot forced Fidoe (13-64-5, 6 KOs) to sit out the referee’s count.
Top Rank Welterweight prospect Paddy Donovan (4-0, 3 KOs) wasted no time in making a statement, dropping Des Newton (8-16, 2 KOs) twice on route to a first round stoppage inside 91 seconds.
