Frampton impresses on Irish pro debut

06 November 2009 – By Cormac Campbell

Carl Frampton looked every bit the outstanding prospect on Friday night with a third-round stoppage of Ignac Kassai at Meadowbank Sports Arena.

In his first appearance on home soil since turning pro earlier this year with Barry McGuigan, Irish Senior Champion Frampton looked strong, controlled and powerful against Kassai. Taking the centre of the ring Frampton picked his shots, covered up well and unloaded when opportunities arose.

The finish, which came in round three, was somewhat premature but no less inevitable. Having landed three straight lead rights in quick succession, Kasai retreated to the corner encouraging referee David Irving to call off proceedings. Frampton had sold in excess of 200 tickets for the contest, and received a warm reception from the remainder of those in attendance.

Here we have a star in the making.

Dee Taggart, contesting a swing bout that followed the main event, scored a points victory in a tough, keenly contested bout with Englishman Johnny Greaves.

The Omagh native started brightly but faded a little towards the end of the contest. There is no doubting Taggarts bravery, popularity and ability to entertain it is no coincidence that a photo entitled Bloodshot featuring Taggart recently won the Northern Ireland Sports Photograph of the Year award – but he must work on avoiding brawls if he is to have longevity in the game.

It was to be an unhappy debut for 33-year-old heavyweight hope David Hanna, who suffered a points defeat at the hands of Pavels Dolgovs.

Dropped in the first and hurt in the second, Hanna recovered well and rocked Dolgovs in the fourth and final round. At times the Harry Hawkins trained former Scottish amateur international crowded his work, forcing back his opponent without leaving space to offload his shots. A rematch in which Hanna learns from simple lessons would more than likely avenge defeat.

The Magherafelt undercard also yielded a points victory for cruiserweight David Dolan over Kristian Jaksi. Martin Rogans former Prizefighter rival looks stronger at cruiserweight and a rematch with Rob Norton is a real possibility.

There were also victories for Coventrys Troy James, who looked unexceptional, asides from an impressive second round knockdown of Zsolt Nagy.

Liverpools John Donnelly scored a fourth-round stoppage of Isaac Owusu and Paul Buchanan slipped to defeat following a sixth-round stoppage by the powerful Gregorsz Proksa.

Stay tuned to irish-boxing.com this week for an exclusive interview with Paul McCloskey, as well as interviews with Barry McGuigan, Carl Frampton, Martin Lindsay and Andy Murray.