BETHNAL GREEN REPORT

Carl Frampton could be heading to Madison Square Garden for a St Patrick's Day punch up after keeping his Commonwealth super-bantamweight championship at a sold-out York Hall.

Frampton made a successful first defence of the belt by dominating Scottish southpaw Kris Hughes with his ring smarts before ending his boxing clinic with an emphatic one-punch finish in the seventh.

Promoter Eddie Hearn asked for big fights with Britain's other top 8st 10lbs fighters Rendall Munroe and Scott Quigg, but before that, Frampton looks set to box on the undercard of Matthew Macklin v Sergio Martinez at the famous New York fight venue on March 17.

Barry McGuigan-managed Frampton (8st 9lbs 8ozs) was too good for Hughes.

At 5ft 11ins, Hughes (8st 9lbs 1ozs) was six inches taller than the champion and a southpaw, but was a light puncher and Frampton soon figured him out.

Hughes tried to stand his ground, then circled the ring, but no matter what he tried, the result was the same. Frampton, good on his feet and moving his upper body well, would make him lunge and miss, then punish his mistakes.

By the end of the second, Hughes was bleeding from the nose, he was reddened around his right eye in the next and knocked back onto his heels late in the fifth by a right hand.

Hughes showed signs of desperation and frustration late in the sixth when he waved Frampton on in between trying to dodge his flurries on the ropes.

At the start of the seventh, Hughes tried to be more positive, but failed to nail Frampton cleanly and the Irishman's counter attack ended the fight emphatically.

He slung over a looping right hand that smacked Hughes flush on the chin and flung him onto the floor in his own corner.

Trainer Colin McNeill tried to help Hughes up and he did beat the count, but referee Mark Green had seen enough.

"He was very tough," said Frampton, "and it took something spectacular to get rid of him. It was the perfect shot and I don't think anyone would have stood up to that."

Erick Ochieng (11st) claimed the vacant English light-middleweight championship after a terrific toe-to-toe tear up with Nick Quigley (10st 13lbs).

Quigley's father, Tony Quigley snr, pulled the Liverpudlian out 10 seconds into the ninth and penultimate round.

Quigely had given his all in a terrific fight and after eight rounds was behind on the judges' cards 79-74, 78-75 and 77-75.

Quigley, beaten in the 'Prizefighter' final by Robert Lloyd-Taylor last September, has an all-action style and from the bell, set about overwhelming Ochieng with his non-stop attacks.

He pressed the Kenyan-born, Stoke-Newington based Ochieng to the ropes and went to work.

Ochieng kept his cool under fire. He slipped and slid away from Quigley's blows and his counters landed flush.

Quigley refused to take a backward step, however. He just kept pumping out punches.

At the end of the fourth, he appeared tired, but cranked up the pressure again midway through the fifth and they were soon trading punches in a corner. Again, Ochieng made Quigley miss and landed heavy shots flush off the ropes.

Robin Reid (12st 2lbs 14ozs) won his 50th fight in spectacular style.

His right hand scrambled Daniel Cadman's senses in the fifth round of their crossroads fight and referee Jeff Hinds stepped in after Reid's follow up attack sent him crashing heavily.

Reid, the former WBC super-middleweight champion, said: "I was biding my time, picking my shots and knew that right hand would land sooner or later."

Cadman weighed 12st 4lbs.

Islington southpaw John Ryder (11st 8lbs) blew away Mariusz Biskupski (11st 3lbs) in the second of a scheduled eight.

Biskupski felt Ryder's body shots in the opener and a left hand to the ropes put him on his knees in the second. The finish punch was a short right hook that propelled the Polish fighter stumbling to the ropes. He took a knee and the referee waved it off.

Ryan 'Crash Bang' Taylor had a crash, bang, wallop toe-to-toe tear up with Crawley tough-guy Robin Deakin.

Taylor (9st 13lbs 4ozs) had Deakin on the floor just before the bell to end the opening round with a left hook and was then on the floor himself in the second after running onto a right hand.

Deakin was troubled by body punches later in the round, however, and was twice sent to the floor in the third before the finish.

Canning Town southpaw Wadi Camacho (14st 10lbs 6ozs) is a fun addition to the cruiserweight ranks. He was knocked back by Moses Matovu's first round swipe, then got on top of the Belfast-based Ugandan with flurries to body and head. He continued to cope well with Matovu's (14st 1lb 12ozs) rushing attacks until the bell to take the verdict 40-37.

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