Sparring: Fighter is using his brain

– Northern Irish boxer Carl Frampton says he has cut his sparring regime by more than half to reduce his chances of developing brain damage.

The 30-year-old former twoweight world champion faces Mexico’s Horacio Garcia in Belfast on November 18.

He usually has 220 sparring sessions in the build-up to his fights, but has trimmed that number to 100 to avoid “problems” in retirement.

“I’ve got two kids and a missus. I don’t want problems after boxing. You need to be careful,” Frampton said in comments published on the BBC website yesterday.

“You have heavy gloves and a head-guard on, but if you talk to any other boxer about the amount of rounds they spar, there is nobody getting close.

“Most do maybe 100 or 120 for a 12-round fight and I was doing 220. It was a lot.

“You just take punishment every day, getting hit all the time. That’s something we’re going to cut back on.” –

London