Carl Frampton wins ESPN fighter of the year award

“It's a huge honour for me and very humbling.”

Carl Frampton has been named 2016 fighter of the year by ESPN, writes Stephen Barry.

The Belfast boxer beat Vasyl Lomachenko, 2014 winner Terence Crawford and three-time award winner Manny Pacquiao to the title.

“Being even considered as a fighter of the year is a huge honour for me and very humbling,” said Frampton, who is undefeated in 23 contests.

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“But the thing is, I'm kicking off 2017 with a bang and it has the potential to be even better than ‘16.”

In January, Frampton will bid to defend his WBA featherweight title in a rematch of his fight-of-the-year contender against Léo Santa Cruz.

He won a majority decision to dethrone Santa Cruz last July, having previously taken a split decision against Scott Quigg in a super-bantamweight world title unification bout in February. Both Santa Cruz and Quigg had been unbeaten before their losses to Frampton.

Award judge Dan Rafael wrote: “No other fighter in 2016 scored such an impressive combination of victories in high-profile bouts against elite opponents - in multiple divisions, on the road - with one of them a contender for fight of the year.”