The night of mismatches in Belfast ended in the ninth round of the main event with Carl Frampton battering Australian challenger Luke Jackson as the towel came in.
In the preview to this card I noted that Francesco Pianeta was clearly in over his head even against a rusty Tyson Fury, but I put forward some hope in the form that we didn’t necessarily know the same for Luke Jackson (16-1, 7 KOs). Maybe the former Olympian could make a go of it on the road. Nope. Carl Frampton (26-1, 15 KOs) put a beating on Luke Jackson from the first round to the finish. It was a different Frampton in there too to my eye. Maybe he just wasn’t worried about the relatively light shots coming back from Jackson and his pedestrian KO percentage. Whatever the reason, Frampton kept his feet planted and worked his power rather his movement.
Jackson was game, for sure. He even landed nice shots each round. It wasn’t hard for him too as Frampton wasn’t being all that defensively cautious, but he didn’t phase the two division titleholder with any of it. When the Australian did land the shots, he paid for them twice over too. Frampton had the superior speed, timing, and power in the ring this afternoon. There was no hope for Luke Jackson. The beginning of the end came in the eighth on a vicious uppercut to the body. Jackson collapsed and looked finished to me, but he moved enough to survive the round. The towel came in in the ninth at the first sign of trouble and rightly so. Good on the Australian corner for recognizing a lost cause for what it was and preventing their man for taking unnecessary punishment.
Post-fight BT Sport had some serious audio issues, or at least the feed they sent Showtime to stream on Youtube did. Nothing was audible. That was unfortunate too as IBF titleholder Josh Warrington got in the ring and it appeared that Frank Warren and company were setting up that huge British clash next. Whether or not they confirmed that potential big fight in the same manner that they confirmed Wilder/Fury earlier, I can’t say.
