When you’re a 1/50 favourite, you don’t expect to be down twice in the first round but that’s the kind of start that Carl Frampton endured in Texas.
Mere seconds had passed before the IBF super-bantamweight champion found himself on the canvas and Frampton struggled to settle into proceedings for the following two minutes of a round that finished the way it started, with a shock knockdown for Alejandro Gonzalez.
But The Jackal displayed the kind of gritty stubbornness that true champions often need as he clawed his way back into the fight in a second round that saw the Mexican receive a point deduction for a low blow.
Rounds 3-8 easily went the way of Barry McGuigan’s protégé as he appeared to suss out the gaps in Gonzalez’s game and Frampton had his opponent hurt in the fourth but couldn’t get Gonzalez to drop, despite the left hand finding a home on more than one occasion.
Rounds 9 and 10 would have been too close for comfort in Frampton’s corner as Gonzalez continued to land coming forward but lacked the necessary technique to cause damage.
And in unfamiliar territory, Gonzalez wilted in the 11th and started to throw wildly before, for the second time, the referee took a point from the 22-year-old for another low blow which all but cemented the victory for Frampton.
You’d have thought that the Belfast boxer was behind on the scorecards such was the vociferosity of his output in the final round but, in all likelihood, he just seemed to want to finish with a flurry.
The fight went to the judges and the scoring margin was actually wider than was expected as Frampton took the decision 115-109, 116-108 and 116-108 so will leave Texas with his belt in tact.
