In a late candidate for fight of the year, Undefeated IBF featherweight world champion Josh Warrington (28-0, 6 KOs) backed up his pre fight confidence with the twelve round unanimous decision over former two-division world champion Carl “The Jackal” Frampton (26-2, 15 KOs) on Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

Warrington started like a runaway train, rocking Frampton in the first two rounds but Frampton was able to find his rhythm in the middle rounds as he started to close the scores with his ability to put together sharp combinations. Warrington sensed he needed to stem the flow, doing just that with his relentless stamina and hurtful shot selection, Warrington on the night was not to be denied, winning unanimously on the judges scorecards by 116-113, 116-112, 116-112.

“I want to thank Frampton, hats off to him, I’m a fan and still a fan” said Warrington afterwards “I want to keep it between us two what we said to each other at the end. He did say he wants me to go on and unify the division. He will go down as one of the best champions, I’m glad to have shared a ring with him”.

Frampton was gracious in defeat saying “Josh won that fight fair and square. No excuses from me, I was in incredible shape coming into this but the better man won”.

“It wasn’t my night. Josh was just fitter and stronger, bottom line”.

“I was hurt a number of times in the fight. Whoever says Josh can’t punch, they don’t know what they’re talking about”.

“He’s even better than I thought he was”.