Carl Frampton reveals “silly” mistake that led to controversial knockdown

On Saturday night, for just the third time in his pro career, Carl Frampton [24(14)-1(0)] found himself looking up at a referee counting.

It was quite a bit different however to his previous trips to the canvas.

Back in July 2015, ‘The Jackal’ was sent down twice in the opening round of his IBF super bantamweight title defence versus Alejandro Gonzalez Jr in El Paso.

While they were flash knockdowns, they were legitimate, unlike on Saturday night at the SSE Odyssey Arena.

Facing Horacio Garcia in a homecoming fight, in what ended up being a closer and more entertaining bout than anticipated, Frampton received a count in the seventh round.

The left leg of the 30 year old featherweight slipped out from under him while probing \ bobbing Garcia and Frampton fell backwards towards the floor. A cuffing left hook did clip the Tigers Bay boxer as he was on his way down, who was already claiming a slip while doing so, however referee Victor Loughlin surprisingly ruled it a knockdown.

Frampton was up at ‘four!’ and unhurt, going straight back in to trade with the game Garcia, however the decision to rule a knockdown made the ten-round non-title fight oto close for comfort for many.

The incident most likely resulted in a three point swing, with a 10-9 round for Frampton becoming a 10-8 for Garcia – although it is unconfirmed whether the scoring judges acknowledged the knockdown. Irish-Boxing.com scored the bout 97-93 to Frampton, disregarding the ‘knockdown’.

Regardless, the Belfast man still claimed a unanimous decision points win following scorecards of 98-93, 97-93, and 96-93.

Watch the ‘knockdown’ below:

Frampton addressed the issue afterwards, and revealed that he had made a minor mistake in the build-up which contributed to his trip to the canvas.

The Ulsterman, who seemed to slip more than once during the fight, another of which resulted in touching down (though not ruled as a knockdown) explained that he had footwear issues.

Frampton described how “the ring was a bit wet and me, being silly, I should have been more experienced, I got new boots and I’ve worn them twice – I probably should have broke them in a wee bit more, still a bit slippy.”

“In fairness to Victor Loughlin, as I slipped, something landed on the way down and he’s going to give a knockdown.”

Frampton personally chose Garcia against the wishes of promoter Frank Warren, who wanted an easier opponent. The two-weight champion joked afterwards that he will stay away from matchmaking in future, but noted that opponents will always raise their game against him.

Frampton said “fair play to the kid and Matt Macklin said it, I’ve a target on my back, all these kids come over and it’s like a world title fight.”

“He’s over here for a week, Canelo’s over with him, he’s right up for it and I’d have to hit him with a sledgehammer for him to go over. That’s the position I’m in at the moment and I’m lucky to be there.”