Josh Warrington vs Carl Frampton: IBF champion retains title as Frampton ponders retirement
Josh Warrington defeated Carl Frampton in one of the fights of the year, retaining his IBF featherweight championship and sending him on to greater things in an attempt to unify the division.
Leeds-born Warrington exploded out of the blocks in the very first round and nearly knocked Frampton down, with the former two-weight world champion only just surviving to the bell and suffering the same barrage in the second. Frampton recovered to make a fight of it in a scrap that developed into a classic, but Warrington proved a class above throughout and again nearly finished it in the 12th.
Good afternoon and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of Josh Warrington vs Carl Frampton from Manchester.
Leeds-born Warrington is bidding to defend the IBF world featherweight crown won from Lee Selby in January in brutal style but has he knows he has it all to do against former two-weight world champion Frampton.
We'll have all the build-up and action right here.
With a clash of shows tonight between Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren, BT Sport are doing their best to show off why you should be buying (or following our live blog) their coverage.
Our line up of boxing expert Steve Bunce and reporter Luke Brown are inside the Manchester Evening News Arena and will be bringing you all the latest updates and analysis throughout the night.
As we kick off the TV coverage, Steve Bunce brings us the perfect build-up towards the big event.
We have never had two fighters coming from big stadium victories. We are in uncharted territories here.
We're kicking off the main undercard action with none other than the name FURY...
No, not Tyson, but instead it's his younger brother Tommy Fury, with the 19-year-old tonight making his professional debut against Jevgenijs Andrejevs. The two are in the ring ready to go and the introductions are done and dusted.
Round one: A comfrotable first round for Fury who looks by far the classier boxer. The difference in shape of the boxers is quite ncredible, with the ripper and hulking figure of Fury in stark contract to the flaggy and flailing Andrejevs. I'd imagine this might not see the full four-round difference.
Round two: Fury targets the body more in the second but gets a warning for a low one from referee Terry O'Connor. His trainer if the familiar face of Ricky Hatton, a former favourite in this neck of the woods, and he gives Fury the gee-up to kick on in the third. One late left hand to the head looked to do some damage on Andrejevs.
Round three: A second warning for Fury for a low blow earns himself a stern telling off from O'Connor and a final warning that another will not be tolerated. Andrejevs makes the most of the breather, but he's wearing a barrage of power punches from Fury now and throwing little in return.
Round four: Fury presses on in the fourth and final round and throws a nice early combination that backs up his opponent onto the ropes. Andrejevs is simply looking to hold on in a bid to see the end, and while he's wearing plenty of punches, they aren't doing an awful lot of damage. It all comes to end with Fury looking the confortable winner, though one left-hand counter caught Fury towards the end of the round. I've got that 40-36 to Fury, but it's over tot he judges...
Do you know what, it was a big crowd, big venue, big card, but this was what I was born to do. I've just fought a man whose had 120 professional fights but if it wasn't for his holding I'd have got him out of there.
Round one: Gorman, whose last outing only came in October, makes a strong start with an early combination that puts Cojanu on the back foot, but it's the Romanian who is the taller, wider man and is able to takes the punches well. Cajanu starts to target the body late on in the round, but that's Gorman's undoubtedly.
Round two: Cojanu gets a good right hand through the guard that Gorman definitely felt, and the second proves a much closer affair that may have gone either way to be honest.
The bout will take place on December 22nd at the Manchester Arena, it was initially set to take place in a stadium but concerns over dates and mandatory challengers meant Warren settled with selecting an arena.
Ring walks will take place around 10pm but as always is the way with boxing, that is subject to change.
Where can I watch it?
It will be shown live on BT Sport Box Office, the broadcaster's second pay-per-view event of December following on from Deontay Wilder's world heavyweight title defence against Tyson Fury.
The cost of the box office event has yet to be announced but will likely be £19.95.
The pair meet in Manchester on Saturday night (PA)
Can I stream online?
The fight will be shown on the BT Sport Box Office website and via the BT Sport Box Office app.
Who's going to win?
Josh Warrington 15/8
Carl Frampton 8/15
Draw 20/1
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