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In front of a rowdy Belfast crowd, Carl Frampton earned his shot at the WBC super bantamweight title with a second round knockout win over Mexico's Hugo Cazares, leveling the veteran with a left hook that put him down, where he was counted out.
There was some "controversy" about the count, but only, as best I could tell, in the fact that Cazares stayed kneeling and smiling at Frampton while the referee counted him out. From what I could tell watching on TV, referee Victor Loughlin was being perfectly clear, counting with his voice and his fingers, so even a translation issue can't be cited. It was either Cazares deciding not to continue, then protesting when he was counted out, or Cazares simply having a mental lapse. Either way, it didn't seem to be on the referee.
Frampton (18-0, 13 KO) now moves forward, and appears headed for a fall showdown with Leo Santa Cruz, which could be a truly great fight. He's expressed a desire to have a tune-up before then, perhaps in June, and he certainly stayed fresh and fit with today's fight, ending things early and taking no punishment.
Cazares falls to 40-8-2 (27 KO).