Josh Warrington vs Carl Frampton: IBF champion retains title as Frampton ponders retirement
Follow latest reaction from the Manchester Arena
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Your support makes all the difference.Josh Warrington defeated Carl Frampton in one of the fights of the year, retaining his IBF featherweight championship and sending him on to greater things in an attempt to unify the division.
Leeds-born Warrington exploded out of the blocks in the very first round and nearly knocked Frampton down, with the former two-weight world champion only just surviving to the bell and suffering the same barrage in the second. Frampton recovered to make a fight of it in a scrap that developed into a classic, but Warrington proved a class above throughout and again nearly finished it in the 12th.
Re-live all the action here.
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Preview
When and where is the fight?
The bout will take place on December 22nd at the Manchester Arena, it was initially set to take place in a stadium but concerns over dates and mandatory challengers meant Warren settled with selecting an arena.
Ring walks will take place around 10pm but as always is the way with boxing, that is subject to change.
Where can I watch it?
It will be shown live on BT Sport Box Office, the broadcaster's second pay-per-view event of December following on from Deontay Wilder's world heavyweight title defence against Tyson Fury.
The cost of the box office event has yet to be announced but will likely be £19.95.
Can I stream online?
The fight will be shown on the BT Sport Box Office website and via the BT Sport Box Office app.
Who's going to win?
Josh Warrington 15/8
Carl Frampton 8/15
Draw 20/1
Gorman vs CojanuRound three: The fight ignites when Cojanu gets upset with what he feels is a shot to the back of the head, with the Romanian spinning around 360 degrees before complaining. Gorman goes on the attack and lands a lovely left hook off the back foot, and that was a much more dominant round from the British fighter.
Gorman vs CojanuRound four: An early left hook finds the target for Gorman before he then lands a right that Cojanu feels, before shaking his head in an attempt to say otherwise. Cojanu then retaliates with a flurry of good body shots and one upstairs , but Gorman finishes strongly.
Gorman vs CojanuRound five: Gorman lands a lovely uppercut to the head of Cojanu, the best punch of the fight so far, and it's followed by another strong shot to the chest that just takes his breath away for a second. Cojanu is definitely trying to work the left side of the body, but the round falls flat afterwards.
Gorman vs CojanuRound six: Gorman is certainly the aggressor here, but each round in the middle Cojanu seems to come alive just for a few seconds, then settle back into a slumber. If he can up the intensity the fight is there for the taking as Gorman is just starting to run out of ideas.
Gorman vs CojanuRound seven: Into the second half of the fight we go and it's not a round to remember. Undoubtedly the worst one of the fight, and let's hope both fighters were only taking a breather and not running on empty, otherwise it's going to be a long final five rounds.
Gorman vs CojanuRound eight: Gorman gets a telling off for throwing a punch after the referee called for a break - something that trainer Ricky Hatton had just mentioned to him about doing when the break wasn't called. He clearly got his timing wrong, and Cojanu makes him pay later in the round with a nice left counter. That round brought the fight back to life thankfully.
Gorman vs CojanuRound nine: As the MEN Arena starts to fill up, we're into territory where everyone know Cojanu needs a KO here to take the win. Unfortunately it's another dud round. You thought the seventh was bad?
Gorman vs CojanuRound ten: Cojanu finally comes to life and throws a good bunch of punches, but Gorman comes back strongly and lands a lovely left hand that whips the Romanian's head back. Can he get hom out of the ring before the 12 rounds ends? Again, the pace just dies off as soon as it gets going.
Gorman vs CojanuRound 11: Gorman ups the intensity to start the round off well and lands a lovely right again to the head. Gorman then swings wildly, and although Cojanu throws one strong right back that lands, Gorman goes on the attack. Four of five punches land before Cojanu returns fire in the best exchange of the fight so far, one that finally gets the crowd interested, and as we head into the final round, I've got Gorman taking every one of them so far to be well clear on the cards.
Gorman vs CojanuRound 12: The final round is very much a case of seeing out the fight as neither man grabs it by the scruff of the neck. It passes by until the final 10 seconds where Gorman tries one last assault, to no avail, but I've got him 12 rounds to the good. Let's see what the judges think...
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