Carl Frampton got the win in his Northern Ireland homecoming today like he was always supposed to, but Horacio Garcia did not go quietly. After getting outboxed for a couple rounds to start the fight, the Mexican brawler stepped up the tempo and drew Frampton into much more of a firefight than he needed to be in. Jerwin Ancajas and Zolani Tete also won on the undercard.
Carl “The Jackal” Frampton (24-1, 14 KOs) started the fight looking quite sharp and without rust. He outboxed his pressure based opponent with ease in the first two rounds. Though Horacio Garcia (33-3-1, 24 KOs) stepped up the pressure in the third, the Jackal still outworked him from the outside comfortably.
Everything shifted in the fourth when Garcia’s pressure persisted and the Mexican began to trap Frampton on the ropes. In that territory, he was able to work Frampton over both upstairs and downstairs. Though it wasn’t noted by the commentary, I do not think Carl Frampton was taking the body work all that well. He’d need to clinch or reset on the outside nearly every time he was hit to the body.
The fight continued its grueling pace with Garcia doing excellent work into the seventh. In that round the floor fell out on the Northern Irish star. Frampton’s foot slipped out from under him at the same time that Garcia landed a glancing hook and it was ruled a knockdown. No real damage was caused, but the impact was definitely felt in the scoring.
This seemed to put a sense of urgency into Carl Frampton. He came out and boxed well on the outside in the eighth for the first time since the third round. It was a very important stand and he made it with a degree of quality. The ninth regressed a bit into previous rounds and maybe Garcia nicked it, but Frampton was able to re-establish himself one last time in the tenth round to close the show.
I scored the fight 95-94 Carl Frampton. Given that the fight was in his home territory, it wasn’t a surprise that the scores came back wider. The right man won at least.
In the co-main event, Filipino Jerwin Ancajas (28-1, 19 KOs) put on another excellent performance in defense if his IBF super flyweight strap. He absolutely worked over Jaime Conlan (19-1, 11 KOs) in this one, especially to the body. Though the sixth round finish came on a head shot, Ancajas had repeatedly hurt and dropped his Irish foe to the midsection. From the third to the sixth, this was a real beating. In my view Ancajas is one of the more underrated fighters in the sport.
Also on the card, WBO bantamweight titleholder Zolani Tete (26-3, 21 KOs) scored a lightning quick eleven second knockout on the first punch of the fight against his woefully outmatched South African challenger Siboniso Gonya (11-2, 5 KOs). I said in the preview that this was the biggest mismatch on a card of mismatches, but even I didn’t see that coming. Hopefully Tete fights a live body next.
