Carl Frampton: 'I’m a UK fighter, I’m an Irish fighter, I’m a Northern Irish fighter. I am all those things'

Carl Frampton: 'Everyone wants to be successful. If a genie had granted me a wish at the start of my career that I would be a world champion and lose it in my first defence, I would have taken that.' Picture: Mikey Williams

It had just ticked over to December 23, 2018 and to all intents and purposes Carl Frampton, sat backstage at Manchester Arena, was now an ex-boxer. Some defeats inspire a desire for revenge, but the only thing Frampton was thinking about after his loss to Josh Warrington was a desire to get home for Christmas with his family.

“I was retired in my head after the Warrington fight without announcing anything,” Frampton said. “I thought that was it. But who would have thought sitting in the changing room that night that I’d be on the verge of fighting for a world title in the third division and creating history and Josh Warrington would have lost to an unheard-of Mexican? It’s a strange game is boxing.”