Quon in 60 seconds? Not quite

CARL FRAMPTON was ready to face a bull — so really Mark Quon was just a lamb to the slaughter on Saturday night.
The Aussie was a late replacement when Spanish bruiser Kiko Martinez pulled out.

He fell in four as Frampton took out his frustrations at missing out on the European title.

Instead the Commonwealth crown was on the line and the Belfast Boy was a man on a mission.

Frampton said: “It was comfortable. You have got to give the other guy a lot of credit, he stepped up at late notice when other people didn’t want it. We’ve got this title now, whoever wants to come and try and take it they’re more than welcome. I’d love a fight with Kiko Martinez as well for the European title as well but we have to sit down and talk about it — but I want big fights.”

A right hand over the top sent Quon sprawling — and when he got up, The Jackal was on him like the lethal finisher he is, and the ref saw enough.

The 24-year-old — managed by Barry McGuigan — reckons that performance at the Odyssey stuck up two fingers to critics of his last outing.

That below-par performance came in his clear points win over fellow super-bantamweight Robbie Turley in Cardiff last June.

Frampton made hard work of that fight — but he puts it down to nerves as he was making his debut on Sky Sports.

He added: “I was maybe trying to turn it on a bit. I’ll never make those mistakes again.

Turley was a great learning fight for me to have. Everything just went perfect for me, tonight, after having the hardest training camp of my life. I was preparing for Martinez , I busted my balls really.

“Barry’s been saying a lot of good things about me and people are quick to jump on the bandwagon when you don’t perform to your best. These keyboard warriors like to shout their mouths off so it was up to me to put on a show and I’m glad I did.”

McGuigan added: “I have seen marvellous things in the gym. 

“Not everyone can convert that to the ring but I see things and say them and people go ‘McGuigan’s talking through his backside’ after I said he was the best prospect in 30 years. Maybe I should quantify that — he’s the best kid I’ve seen in that weight division down the years.”

Elsehere on the card, Eamonn O’Kane racked up win No3 in his new professional career.

Ballymena’s Joe Rea took all he had as O’Kane threw power shot after power shot over eights rounds.

He even had enough to land a few nice potshots of his own — but O’Kane was the clear winner.

Dudey's bloody hard work of it!

PAUL McCLOSKEY made bloody hard work of his job in Belfast on Saturday night — but he does not care.
That is because victory over Colombian Breidis Prescott in their WBA world title eliminator gives him a chance of finally realising his dream.
Beaten in April by Amir Khan for the world title, McCloskey was left heartbroken as the ref stepped in when he was cut above the eye.
There was blood — some — but nothing like the amount of claret that flowed against Prescott at the Odyssey.
This time it was not the sixth round — but the second in which McCloskey took some heavy fire and he had to dig as deep as he ever had to in his 24-fight career.
He was forced to endure blood pouring down his throat for the rest of the fight, spitting enough on the canvas over the following  10 r
But ‘dig deep’ he did — and now he cannot be denied another shot at glory after edging a tight unanimous decision.

McCloskey, 32, said: “My hardest fight? It probably was, aye. For attrition and hurt and having to dig deep.
“It wasn’t my best performance but he dragged me into a fight I didn’t expect. The reach was longer than I expected. I had been sparring for it. It just wasn’t the same.
The first couple of rounds I was slow and I knew I’d need to speed up. I think from the sixth, seventh on I slowed him down with a few bodyshots and I could see his power diminish. I knew this from when I studied him. He’s a four or five-round fighter and I can see now that he is.
“My trainer John Breen wanted me to throw more combinations — but it wasn’t as easy as it looked in there.”

He is right there with the proof in the thudding shots he was forced to take in the first seven rounds, before before the tide turned.
Only his superb conditioning - and sheer bloody-mindedness - saw him emerge from the trenches with a unanimous points decision.
Prescott copped the brunt of McCloskey’s attack to the body in the middle section.  His early threat had not resulted in the stoppage he predicted within six rounds.
Like McCloskey, he is desperate for a money-spinning rematch with WBA ‘super’ and IBF champion Khan, an interested spectator back in England.
But it looks like he will never again get a chance to prove his 54-second demolition job in 2008 was no fluke.
It will be McCloskey who moves on to the next level after proving he can come from behind against a heavy hitter.

McCloskey added: “My conditioning is superb — I never had any doubt that I would be able to win the fight.
“John asked me how I was feeling after seven rounds and I said ‘John I feel great’ — it was just my nose.
“I’ve been building it up a notch even since the Khan fight with my conditioner Ollie Cummings. One day I told him ‘Ollie I’m f*****’, what’s going on?’ And he said we’d taken it up a level again.”
Breen added: "What a pair of balls he has. That’s a bigger and stronger man than Khan is, yet Paul went and won five out of the last six rounds.”
While Khan is his dream fight, a match-up with WBA ‘regular’ champ Marcos Maidana is the more likely now.

McCloskey’s promoter Eddie Hearn said: “The great thing about boxing is that if you bring something to the table, you can get the fights.
“If Paul had fought tonight in a car-park with 50 people watching, he might not get the big fights.
But we’ve got Sky Sports, a great atmosphere,  the amount of people who have texted to say that and people will watch that and say ‘there’s some money to be made there’.
"And it’s a money game. Whether Khan decides to fight, or Maidana, I don’t care who it is.
He's proved to the people that he’s got the steel and determination. We all know he’s got the ability and what he showed more than anything was heart, nuts and desire. And that’s why he deserves a world title shot."

Martin Rogan: In a World of his own

THE debate has raged all week - when is a world champion NOT a world champion?

We all know the sanctioning bodies are a law unto themselves, but Martin Rogan’s trick this week takes the biscuit.

He has already refused a real match-up – in his hometown of Belfast, don't forget – with Tyson Fury for the British and Commonwealth belts, with the Irish probably thrown in for good measure.

And what does he do? Refuse it – to fight for the WBU ‘world’ title instead.

Some of the quotes from The Entertainer's cam were epic. And this gem topped the lot: “On the night of October 27 when I am Ireland’s first real heavyweight champion, I will be calling on Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko to remind them that they don’t own all the titles and they will have to come to Belfast to fight me if they want to back up their claim to be the undisputed heavyweight team.”

Now, Henry Coyle and Patrick Hyland have both won lesser world titles in Ireland this year, and both admitted the trinkets were just stepping stones to bigger fights.

But Rogan’s fight against Luis Andres Pineda – who has won only one of his last EIGHT fights – is a beauty. Ireland’s first world heavyweight champion? Give me a break. 

Anyone can be heavweight champion of the world in their own head, it's easy when you keep on dreaming.

McCloskey - Prescott: Time for Dudey to walk the walk

FOR a man who lost his biggest fight yet, Paul McCloskey has no problem telling other boxers where they come up short.

Fellow light-welters Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana and tonight’s opponent Breidis Prescott have all been dismissed.

But it’s one thing saying it, and another thing proving such talk.

Dudey takes on the Colombian ‘Khan-queror’ at the Odyssey claiming he will make the ‘crude’ visitor miss for fun.

The sharp-tongued southpaw may be right – but after his clash with Khan, it’s the toughest fight of his career to date.

Prescott’s one-minute victory over the Bolton man three years ago was unforgettable.  OK, he has lost twice since, perhaps showing Manchester 2008 was a fluke.

But he is still a class above former Dudey opponents Guiseppe Lauri and Barry Morrison, and would give Colin Lynes – McCloskey’s hardest fight yet - a good go.

 McCloskey is honest and answers questions when they are put to him.

It’s why he says he would make WBA regular champ Maidana ‘look foolish’ were they to meet, a real possibility later this year if Dudey wins tonight.

After his controversial defeat to Khan – a fight that should never have been stopped – he claimed he had made the Olympic silver medallist ‘look amateurish’.

And in the run-up to this one, Prescott has been told that he’ll be gone by the middle rounds, dazed and confused – and defeated.

It’s fighting talk and I reckon he backs it up with a points win in this WBA eliminator. But there should be a few hairy moments with it.

McCloskey swears he is concentrating on the job – despite still talking about other fighters.

He said: “I don’t care about Amir Khan. I just want to be a world champion. Even when I fought Khan it was about becoming world champion. I don’t care who I have to fight to achieve that.

“I’m one of the top fighters in the division and it’s nice to be in that position. It took a lot of hard work, time and dedication to get here.”

A chance to back up his words could come against Argie Maidana, another Khan victim. The difference is, he went all the way and missed out on a 10^th round KO by the skin of his teeth.

The Dungiven southpaw and ‘El Chino’ made contact on Twitter and agreed in principle to meet.

But McCloskey says he hasn’t logged on in a while to see if they’re still on.

He added: “Maidana was in touch with us a while back. He respects me as a fighter and I respect him.

“I think he is a great fighter but he is average enough ability-wise. He does carry one hell of a dig just like this guy I am fighting tonight.

“I would love to get a world title fight with Maidana in Ireland. The fact he is even saying he would come here is a massive boost.”

In chief support Carl Frampton’s training camp – which sees him in the shape of his life – will not go to waste as he fights for the Commonwealth title.

His fight with Kiko Martinez was set to be a thriller, until the Spaniard pulled out as his dad is unwell.

Replacement Aussie Mark Quon stepped in where Willie Casey, Rendall Munroe and several others wouldn’t.

The drama nearly brought the Jackal to tears – but it might not be such a bad thing. After all, just 10 fights into his career there is no need to rush it.

He said: “I was disappointed after hearing about the Martinez fight and I remember it was just after sparring I heard and felt like crying to be honest.”

“I trained so hard. My manager Barry McGuigan said ‘Wo do you want next?’ and I said ‘Get me anyone in Europe for that European title’.”

It wasn’t to be but he should raise a new belt tonight to add to his Celtic title.

At middleweight Eamonn O’Kane should be too sweet for ‘Sugar’ Joe Rea, even if he gets his best test to date.

Promoter Eddie Hearn has brought the Sky Sports cameras and will hope for a more certain 1-2 from Ireland.

The last time two of our lads topped the bill on the channel, in Cardiff in June, Frampton looked unspectacular in beating the unheralded Robbie Turley.

And McCloskey gym-mate at John Breen’s, Andy Murray, froze in his European title fight against Gavin Rees.

Only two big performances tonight from the bill-toppers will entice the major players back.

They’re needed in Irish boxing now more than ever with RTE still steering clear of ringsports