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‘Given me inspiration to get back to the top’ – Frampton hails Steven Ward

Carl Frampton’s desire to reign supreme again was handed a boost by Steven Ward.

The former two weight world champion, who returns to the ring for the first time since December next month, claims watching his gym and camp housemate’s performance against Liam Conroy was nothing short of inspirational.

‘The Jackal’ watched from ringside as ‘The Quiteman’ part took in the front runner for Irish Fight of the Year at the Ulster Hall.

Ward overcame an early knockdown, came through some tricky moments and dealt with the mother of all cuts before eventually having his hand raised in an enthralling WBO European light heavyweight title.

The grit and heart shown by the 29-year-old left Frampton in awe and when speaking on his weekly podcast TKO he revealed Ward’s performance was inspiring.

“I text Stevie, and me and him always mess about and we take the piss, but I said to him ‘that fight has given me inspiration to get back to the top’. Just watching that it was like real Rocky stuff,” Frampton explained.

While the back and forth Rocky element had anyone that watched it ready to go to war, Frampton seems to get as much inspiration from the things that gave Ward the ability to partake in such a blood and guts battle.

The Top Rank featherweight claims his stable mates approach to camp played a massive part in what could prove a springboard win and whilst dedicated himself he seemed to suggest he will draw from that.

“It’s in contention for Fight of the Year. To be there and watch it… I live with Stevie during camp I see how dedicated he has to be. He is a proper professional he cuts no corners. He has to be so dedicated and so disciplined to make light heavyweight.

“He was hurt in that fight. You wouldn’t have (not forgiven) Steve Gray for stepping in and stopping the fight at a number of points. He was hurt he was down, he was cut badly, it was gushing- and to come back and win.

“His form after he was hurt… he was back up on his toes. That shows you his resilience, it shows you his fitness levels and it shows you how dedicated he is.”

‘The Jackal’ has also become nigh on obsessed with Ricardo Guglielminotti’s picture which captured something unique just after the result was called out. 

“The referee was going to call their names out at the end. ‘And the winner is Steven Ward.’ He gets on his knees and screams there is a photography of it- and I seen it happening. Because of the blood pressure the blood out of his cut and him shouting it went into the air over his head and behind him. I have never seen anything like it.”

 Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)

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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

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