Headline NewsNewsPro NewsTop News of The Day

Carl Frampton will be in Tommy McCarthy’s corner for Billiam Smith rematch

Carl Frampton will be in Tommy McCarthy’s corner for his rematch with Chris Billiam Smith.

In an act of next level shithousary ‘The Mack Attack’ had ‘The Jackal’ as part of his team for his first clash with the English fighter.

It was cheeky, a bit WWE, next level mind games, and brilliantly entertaining. The images of Frampton backstage watching Billiam Smith getting his hand wraps went viral and proved brilliant pre-fight drama.

Shane McGuigan, who coaches ‘The Gentleman and used to mentor Frampton, argued the fact his man won and left the building with the British, Commonwealth and European titles proved the ‘stunt’ backfired, although Irish great Frampton and Ireland’s first black European champion disagree.

In fact, McCarthy values the former two-weight world champions’ input so much he wants to continue to use him as a ‘seconds’ in his corner, meaning the Belfast fan favourite will be present for the Manchester Arena hosted April 16 rematch.

It’s not a wind up move this time around, rather the former European champion sees the experienced fighter as a valuable member of the team.

“Tommy asked me to do that and I suppose it was to wind a few people up but it was also to help him and give him a bit of advice,” says Frampton when speaking to the Irish News.

“Pete Taylor is his cornerman but I was very energetic in the dressing room and in the corner and it’s easy to listen to someone who has been there and done it and can tell you: ‘It’s going to get hard and you need to get tough…’ He liked it and he wants to have me back when he’s fighting and I’d be delighted to do it.

“Training fighters at this point… It’s not the right thing for me but I don’t mind giving advice and helping people out and if anybody needed me in their corner for a night that would be no problem.”

Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

x