Carl Frampton dominates, stops Luke Jackson in Belfast

Carl Frampton had no problems on Saturday in his return to the ring at Belfast’s Windsor Park, wiping out previously unbeaten Australian Luke Jackson and stopping his challenger in the ninth round.

Frampton (26-1, 15 KO) won his third straight fight with the victory, and took perhaps the final step toward another world title opportunity. Frampton holds the interim WBO title, and has sights on full WBO titleholder Oscar Valdez, IBF titleholder Josh Warrington, and WBC titleholder Leo Santa Cruz, which would be a rubber match.

Frampton dominated the fight for seven rounds before dropping Jackson (16-1, 7 KO) late in the eighth. Jackson managed to survive the round, but was then stopped about halfway into the ninth.

“This was unreal,” Frampton said. “The atmosphere was special, the crowd was fantastic and they made my dream come true. It was unbelievable from start to finish.”

Frampton, 31, was the heavy favorite coming into the bout, and it was a question of whether or not the 33-year-old Jackson, a former Olympian, could make the big step up in competition. As it turned out, he couldn’t, and it wasn’t even close.