Carl Frampton, a former UK world champion, announced that he will be retiring from the sport of boxing following a sixth-round TKO loss to Jamel Herring for the WBO Super Featherweight championship. This loss was Frampton’s third for his career and his only loss by knockout.
Frampton turned pro in 2009, fighting in the super bantamweight division. He got off to a hot start winning his first 23 fights with all but one of those bouts taking place in his native United Kingdom.
He got his first opportunity at a world title in September 2014, when he fought Kiko Martinez for the IBF Super Bantamweight crown. This was his second time fighting Martinez in his pro career, as he fought him the previous year beating him by 9th round TKO. At the end of 12 rounds, Carl Frampton would once again beat Kiko Martinez, this time by unanimous decision to claim his first world championship.
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After two successful title defenses, Frampton got an opportunity to unify his IBF belt with the WBA belt when he faced off against previously undefeated Scott Quigg. In a close bout that saw Quigg suffer a broken jaw, Frampton escaped with a split decision victory and became the unified WBA and IBF Super Bantamweight champion.
Following his bout with Quigg, Frampton moved up to the featherweight division receiving a world title shot in his first fight against Leo Santa Cruz for the WBA Featherweight title. In arguably his toughest bout, Frampton came out victorious by a majority decision. He won the WBA Super World Featherweight title and became a two-division world champion. He lost his title soon after, suffering a defeat by majority decision in a rematch against Leo Santa Cruz.
In April 2018, Frampton won the WBO interim Featherweight championship after beating former bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire by unanimous decision. After a successful title defense against previously undefeated Luke Jackson, he received another world title opportunity this time against Josh Warrington for the IBF Featherweight title. He was unsuccessful, losing by unanimous decision.
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Frampton retires at 34, with an overall record of 28-3. In his career, 16 wins came via knockout. He was named Ring Magazine’s Fighter of the Year in 2016 in a year that saw him unify the super bantamweight titles and win the featherweight title.
In his career, Carl Framptonheld a record of 7-3 against former or current world champions and a 5-3 record in world title fights. In addition, he defeated five opponents that were undefeated with at least 10 wins to their record.