Frampton crushes Chris Avalos in five
IBF super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton (20-0, 14 KOs) stopped mandatory challenger Chris Avalos (25-3, 19 KOs) in the fifth round on Saturday night at the Odyssey Arena, in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The Belfast man, who was making the first defence of his 122-pound world title, overwhelmed the American challenger with punches from both hands and after another right hand rocked Avalos in the fifth, referee Howard Foster jumped in to stop the action.
It was a good action fight with both fighters willing to exchange but the champion soon led the way, and his right hand could not miss and he rocked Avalos with it in the second round.
After a clinch, Avalos appeared to have hurt his shoulder, and then turned and began to walk away from Frampton, who took advantage and rushed at Avalos moments later, and nailed him with a right hand.
By the fifth round, Avalos was taking a beating and ended up on the canvas, although it was not by a punch, Frampton showed his strength by simply shoving him to the floor.
Frampton continued to punish Avalos with more hard shots and it was that straight right that had Avalos reeling, forcing Foster to step in and save a bemused and beaten challenger from any more punishment at 1:33 of the round.
Next for the 28-year-old Frampton could be a unification fight with British rival Scott Quigg, who was at ringside.
Quigg, 26, has made five defences of his WBA 'regular' title.
"I want it. It's a huge fight," said Frampton. "I would love it. I think Scott wants it. This summer. It's a huge fight."