Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Pitch punch made me put boxing first
Frampton reveals how fight KO’D football career
BOXING star Carl Frampton has revealed how a pitch brawl KO’D his football career.
He might be known for his explosive power and granite chin but the Jackal, 31, was left floored during a match 15 years ago.
The former two-weight world champion, from North Belfast, needed stitches for a cut lip, an injury that influenced his decision to hang up the boots.
He said: “I got chinned playing football up at Mallusk when I was 16, just before the Co Antrims [amateur boxing championships].
“I was playing for Loughside Boys against Crumlin Star, and a fella chinned me and cut the inside of my lip. I had to get stitches.
“I remember thinking, ‘I can’t be playing football and getting digs in the mouth’, especially when it was impacting on my boxing career.
“He was a big lump, and I didn’t see it coming. I just turned right into the dig. I think the fella had a 30-yard run-up, so he had plenty of momentum. And he was big. So I got put over.”
Frampton, who will fight Josh Warrington for the IBF world featherweight title in December, later made the move to his boyhood club but soon had to decide on his sporting future.
He told Belfast Live’s That’s What I Call Football podcast: “I joined Crusaders as a 16-year-old and I think I would have got into the U16s, no doubt.
“But I had to make a decision what sport I wanted to do, and boxing won. I haven’t played any football since then.”
The Tigers Bay hero believes he could have made it in the local game if he had dedicated himself to the sport.
He said: “I was OK. I could have played in the Irish League. I was a bit like Denis Wise. A bit of a terrier.”
YESTERDAY